01 May, 2016

SECOND EDITION

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

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Boishakh 18, 1423, Rajab 23, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 10

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www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

IS claims second murder in a week Afzal Hossain, n Mohammed Tangail A Hindu tailor from Tangail’s Gopalpur sued in 2012 allegedly for defaming Islam was killed by the local members of international militant organisation Islamic State yesterday.

Three youths coming on a motorcycle went to the shop of Nikhil Chandra Joarder, 50, at Kalibari bazar of Dubail village around noon, called him outside and then hacked him to death, Gopalpur OC Mohammad Abdul Jalil said.

The assailants fled the scene immediately but left a bag that con-

tained some bomb-like materials.

The law enforcers seized the bag and kept it at the police station.

Later in the evening, militant outfit IS claimed credit for the murder through its Amaq news agency, said US-based jihadist activities monitoring website SITE Intelligence Group. It is the second killing reportedly carried out by IS members in Bangladesh in a week.

Earlier, Rajshahi University teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique was killed in a similar fashion near his house in Shalbagan area of the town on April 23.

IS also claimed that their mem-

IS CLAIMS SINCE JANUARY January 7

Chhamir Uddin Mandal; Jhenaidah February 21

Joggeshwar Roy; Panchagarh March 14

Abdur Razzaq; Jhenaidah April 23

Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique; Rajshahi April 30

Nikhil Chandra Joarder; Tangail bers had killed Shia preacher from Jhenaidah Abdur Razzaq on March 14, Panchagarh temple priest Joggeshwar Roy on February 21

INSIDE

1,548 construction workers killed, another 1,574 injured in a decade electric wire hit the metal frame. n Arifur Rahman Rabbi Sadly, such incidents are only too In February this year, at an under construction building in Badda, four young men were suddenly electrocuted while suspended four stories above the ground. Two of them died on the spot and the other two were severely injured.

These workers were not even doing electrical work. They were welders, and they were being hauled up with a window grill in hand to the sixth floor when a loose

common at Dhaka city’s under construction buildings, where one will often find little safety precaution apart from a warning sign or two.

The appalling state of occupational safety in Dhaka’s construction business is reflected in the number of worker death tolls over the years.

Since 2005, such accidents have claimed the lives of 1,548 workers while 1,574 more sustained injuries

n Kamrul Hasan

“Also, if we face an accident, it is better for us to die on the scene rather than being injured because we will not have enough money to pay for medical expenses. This makes the life of a transport worker a living hell.”

Most of the transport workers this correspondent talked to echoed the view of Razzak, and

Child worker Palash is seen working in risky environment at a shipyard in Keraniganj.

Workers’ rights are not protected at most of the shipyards SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

SIM re-registration time extended

Muhith against duty hike on rice import

Daytime cooking banned in India

The government has extended the time for those who are yet to complete biometric re-registration of their SIM cards to May 31.

Finance minister AMA Muhith recently turned down a proposal from local rice millers and businesses to further increasing the duty on rice import.

With sizzling temperatures claiming more than 300 lives this month in India, officials have banned daytime cooking in some parts of the drought-stricken country.  PAGE 32

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Transport workers’ rights still ignored “When I am young, you may see that I have a sizable income. But when I will die, you will see that money is being collected from my fellow drivers to arrange my namaz-e-janaza and burial. This is what happens to us,” said Abdur Razzak, a truck driver in the capital’s Mohammadpur.

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Dhaka’s deadliest job

May Day to be observed today n Tribune Desk May Day will be observed today in the country as elsewhere across the world with a pledge to establish the rights of workers.

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Solidarity Day, commemorates the historic uprising of working people in Chicago, USA, at the height of a prolonged fight for an eight-hour workday, reports UNB. The day is a public holiday.

Trade unions and professional groups have taken up various programmes to observe the day to press for improving the working conditions with better wages for the workers and job security.

Garment Workers Trade Union Centre will arrange separate rallies at Nabisco Shaheed Minar in Tejoan industrial area and Aftab Nagar in Rampura of the capital marking the day.

Garment workers will bring out processions at Paltan in the capital and in different industrial areas across the country on the day, demanding justice for the victims of Rana Plaza incident.

Bangladesh Trade Union Sangha and Bangladesh Jatiya Sramik Jote chalked out different programmes in the capital and different places of the country.

and elderly homoeopathy doctor Chhamir Uddin Mandal of Jhenaidah on January 7.

According to the US government,

Bangladesh is under IS threat as the group since last year has claimed responsibility for more than a dozen murders and attacks on non-Muslims and non-Sunnis across the country. “We have no reason to not to believe those claims of responsibility. But what is clear is that there is a threat on the ground,” Mark Toner, a US state department spokesperson, said on Friday.

However, the Bangladesh government has always refuted the idea that IS has activities in the country, and claims that the attacks were conducted by local

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H O L I D AY N O T I C E Sunday, May 1, is a national and newspaper holiday on the occasion of May Day. Therefore, the Dhaka Tribune will not be published tomorrow. However, our online version will keep updating.

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IS claims

militant groups, especially outlawed Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, in cooperation with the BNP-Jamaat nexus.

On the other hand, local militants of banned Ansarullah Bangla Team who are believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent took credit for a dozen of attacks on teachers, secular writers and publishers since 2013.

LGBT rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy are the latest victims of the AQIS group.

Nikhil’s family members yesterday said that the tailor had been beaten up by the locals in 2012 based on a rumour that he had made derogatory comments on Prophet Muhammad. He was later arrested in a case filed the same year by madrasa teacher Aminul Islam, who is also the local correspondent of the Daily Inqilab.

He got bail in the case after serving jail terms for one month and 24 days.

“The case was later withdrawn by the plaintiff following an arbitration,” Nikhil’s wife Arati Rani Joarder said.

Their daughter Lipi Rani Bonya said that the killers came to the shop

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Transport workers’ rights still ignored five minutes before the murder. One of them went to the nearby shop to buy chips while another wanted to have some water from Nikhil, who was working at that time.

“My father then asked mother to bring water from the house [located beside the shop]. As she came back with a glass of water, she saw the youths fleeing the scene on the motorcycle after hacking my father with machetes,” she added.

Arati Rani filed a case against unnamed persons with Gopalpur police in the evening.

In its latest edition of Dabiq magazine published on April 13, IS claimed that they had plans to launch attacks on India and Myanmar from its base in Bangladesh, run by one Sheikh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif. Shariah in Bangladesh would not be achieved until the local Hindus are targeted in mass numbers, Hanif said.

The IS leader says he is proud of the recent attacks by their men in Bangladesh. “Our soldiers are sharpening their knives to slit the throats of atheists and Murtads who defame the Prophet,” he said in the interview. l

May Day to be observed today Bangladesh Communist Party (CPB) will arrange a rally in the capital on the occasion.

Newspapers will publish supplements while radio and television channels air special programmes.

President Abdul Hamid in a May Day message urged all to come forward for ensuring welfare of the working class people through es-

tablishing their rights and dignity including due wage, safety and hygienic working environment.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her message, expressed hope that both owners and workers will put in their best efforts to boost production in their factories through maintaining good relations between them. l

described how dissatisfied they were with their daily life because they have no rights. They said they were always in a hurry to earn more money instead of focusing on driving safely on the road.

Experts said the tendency of drivers to drive recklessly in order to make more money is causing more accidents, adding that the number of accidents would have been very low if drivers could be paid more.

Tajul Islam Tejel, publication secretary of Bangladesh Inter-district Truck Driver Union, told the Dhaka Tribune truck drivers and workers neither have good income nor adequate employment opportunities.

“They have to work for at least 12 to 13 hours a day but still they do not have job security.”

Tejel said transport workers are deprived of facilities usually enjoyed by employees working in offices or corporations. “Although driving is a risky job, they are not paid any money to pay for treatment after an accident. Besides, vehicle owners sometimes demand money

from us in compensation in case of accidents although we were not at fault.”

Azizur Rahman, a taxi driver, said vehicle owners do not consider even if any family member of workers falls ill.

“They deduct money from our salary, and also demand that we work on a holiday if we have to take a day off for illness of family members. Otherwise, there is a possibility to lose our job.

“Besides, I have been receiving the same salary for the last eight years. There is no increment. We have no rights,” added Azizur, who works for a car rental company.

Government officials said they were enacting a law to cover the rights of transport workers but Majnu Mollah, joint convener of Malik-Sramik Oikya Parishad, told the Dhaka Tribune it was not certain when the act would be enacted.

Secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Division MAN Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune the Road Transport Act 2016 would ad-

dress all the issues faced by transport workers.

“Once the act is passed, the workers will come under legal protection.

Also, clauses on non-motorised vehicles will also be included in the act,” he said.

Although the process for enacting the act began back in 2011, enactment has not finished yet, and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) said it was unlikely to be finished this year.

BRTA Secretary Md Shawkat Ali said they had held a workshop with World Health Organisation and several other organisations in which several recommendations were made on road safety, driving licence and remuneration of transport workers.

“We analysed the recommendations and sent those to the ministry.

Those will be re-analysed there and then the act needs to get the approval from the inter-ministerial committee. After that, it will be enacted.

“I do not think the act can be enacted this year,” he added. l

Dhaka’s deadliest job at construction sites, according to data compiled by Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE).

The figure was 172 in 2015, 165 in 2014, 175 in 2013 and 2012, 116 in 2011, 138 in 2010, 106 in 2009, 136 in 2008, 122 in 2007, 163 in 2006 and 80 in 2005, it shows.

Industry insiders say the figure includes only the reported accidents so the actual number of fatalities could be much higher.

This correspondent recently visited construction sites in Shanir Akhra, Jatrabari, Azimpur, Hazaribagh, Khilgaon, Rampura, Badda, Gulshan and Dhanmondi areas of Dhaka and found that workers in most of the sites had little to no safety measures.

Experts say most construction companies are non-compliant of the safety mechanisms prescribed in the law and policies are the core reason behind the negligence.

The lack of safety not only harms workers but has also

caused injuries and deaths to pedestrians and people living nearby.

In 2011 there was a brief furor about construction site safety died after a college student was killed by after a brick fell on his head from a construction building in Panthapath.

Later that year the High Court ordered Sagufta Group, the real estate company, to pay Tk15 lakh in compensation to the family of the student.

Real estate companies often escape punitive action paying only a small compensation to the affected families due to the lack of enforcement.

Although the High Court has warned concerned realtors, the situation has not changed much. Rajuk claims it has limited manpower with which to supervise construction.

City development authority Rajuk’s Chairman GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiyan said the Building Construction Act specifies all security issues and a gazette was issued in May last year in this regard.

“Building owners and real estate companies are responsible for preventing accidents by ensuring workers’ safety and site safety. Rajuk has taken a strong stand against those violating the laws,” he said.

However, the chairman claimed the the workers themselves were often callous and did not care about the risks.

Asked about irregular supervision of buildings and lack of safety measures, he said 20 building inspectors were recently served with showcause notice for negligence of duty.

“We do serve notice to the realtors or the owners if lack of safety measures is found during inspections,” he said.

“But we are short of people. Man-

power in Delhi is around 35,000 while Rajuk has only 1,100 people,” he claimed.

“We are working sincerely with this small capacity,” he added.

OSHE Foundation Executive Director Ripon Chowdhury said the number of construction workers killed has increased mainly due to the lack of surveillance by the concerned authorities.

“There are around 56 lakh workers in Bangladesh and 80% of them are involved with informal labour sector who have lack of education and awareness,” he said, urging the government to to provide them with health and safety training to avoid such accidents.

“We have discussed introducing risk insurance for workers with the Labour Ministry, which needs to be implemented urgently,” he added.

State Minister for Labour Mojibul Haque Chunnu said the government is emphasising on ensuring safety and security of workers in their workplaces.

“Companies and owners must employ workers by following safety rules of Bangladesh Labour Act 2006,” he said adding that owners will be liable if any worker is killed for their negligence.

“The ministry is taking strict measures against negligence. It has filed several hundreds of cases on workers’ safety,” he added.

Currently, there are around 300 ministry staff supervising construction sites. The minstry has recently appointed 40 first class officers and another 200 will be appointed in the next two years.

“The ministry is planning to raise its manpower to 1,000 to properly monitor the enforcement of the labour law,” he said. l

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'There can be no compromise on worker safety' Mujibul Haque Chunnu, state minister for labour and employment, talks about major improvements in rights and safety for Bangladesh's factory workers since the Rana Plaza incident.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune's Asif Showkat Kallol and Shohel Mamun, the Jatiya Party MP discusses the present state of labour standards in Bangladesh on the eve of May Day. What is the latest situation of the labour welfare foundations for local firms?

A total of 66 companies in the country have already deposited 10% of 5% of their profits to the government's Labour Welfare Foundation, through which we have created a fund of Tk127 crore in the last couple of years. Under the new labour law's provisions, 5% of the profit of firms who hold a capital of at least Tk2 crore go to the government's welfare foundation that is maintained by the ministry. The firms also give 80% of that 5% profit as cash benefits to its workers, staff and officers and they are required to put the remaining 10% into a welfare foundation of their own.

Major telecom operators of the country like Grameenphone, Banglalink, Teletalk, Robi and Airtel are also strictly following the labour law provision concerning the welfare foundation. But we have not yet been able to strictly implement the rule. We will soon ask Bangladesh Chartered Accountants Association to incorporate the labour law provision of depositing 5% of the profits to workers welfare when they prepare audit reports for firms. We hope that after strict implementation of the provision the government's deposit will increase from Tk127 crore to Tk1,000 crore.

Is this labour law provision to be applicable for export sectors, including the garment industry?

We have already made a separate provision for workers and staff of the export oriented sector. Tk0.03 from every Tk100 of export earnings will go to the labour ministry's workers welfare foundation. The Labour Ministry expects to raise Tk70 crore from this sector for labour welfare.

Are you satisfied with your work?

I am satisfied with my work and I have the prime minister's complete support towards my work to improve the living standards of the workers of Bangladesh.

What are the future projects of Labour Ministry?

We are set to construct two 300bed hospitals specialising in occupational diseases in Tongi and Raiganj for workers in Bangladesh.

We are also building four dormitories for workers in Tongi, Narayanganj and Chittagong. Besides, the Labour Ministry will start training programmes for women in the drought-prone areas in the north.

Are you sure the labour rules properly explain the laws?

There is no conflict between the labour law and the rules. Labour rights are now ensured by the labour rules. For example the rules explain that the Sonargaon and Sheraton hotel owners, who are foreign firms, will also deposit 5% of their profits to the workers welfare foundation.

Is it true that the banking sector is now under labour law?

Are you sure that every garment worker from Rana Plaza has been compensated?

Each and every Rana Plaza victim has received compensations from the government and international buyers and local and foreign NGOs. The garment factories in Dhaka city that were housed in shared buildings have already been moved out as per the buyers' conditions. Three parties including the government have already inspected 3,800 garment factories.

We have shut down 38 factories for violation of workers' safety standards.

The key problem with meeting safety standards is that the

MEHEDI HASAN

industry needs about Tk600 crore to restructure factories to meet Accord and Alliance conditions.

That is a huge cost. Last week at a conference in Brussels, I asked buyers why they are not interested to increase the prices of Bangladeshi garment items. They said it was a competitive global

market. So the international buyers are contradicting themselves.

They do not care about the prices of Bangladeshi export items, but they are up in arms about labour rights.

But one thing is certain is that we will not compromise on workers' safety in the factories.

Yes, the banking sector is under labour law, although there are no workers in the bank but nowa-days most banks hire workers through outsourcing. As a result, we have already included issues containing labour rights of workers who work at outsourcing firms.

What has your ministry done to tackle the child labour issue?

We have banned child workers from 38 high risk industries. Campaigners have been deployed at the grassroots levels to raise awareness about the issue. We also have a project that will hold three to six month training programmes for children to become self-reliant. l

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SIM re-registration time extended to May 31 n Ishtiaq Husain The government has extended the time for those who are yet to complete biometric re-registration of their SIM cards to May 31.

State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim made the announcement at a media briefing yesterday.

She also added that unregistered SIM cards will also be blocked for a period of 3 hours randomly till May 31 until re-registration.

April 30 was the deadline for biometric SIM re-registration.

Some 83.8 million out of around 130m active SIMs were reverified from December 16 until Thursday. The process was suspended for several hours yesterday due to a technical glitch.

Subscribers failed to register around 1.25 crore SIMs due to different reasons, including fingerprint mismatch.

The state minister said that after May 31, all unregistered SIMs will be completely deactivated. Blocking the SIMs randomly for 3 hours until

re-registration will serve as a warning till the deadline is up.

She went on to say that the blocked SIMs will remain unsold for 15 months to allow non-resident Bangladeshis and members of peace keeping missions a chance to re-register their SIMs.

‘Although the government has announced blocking unregistered SIMs, a total of 15 lakh SIMs of disabled people will not be deactivated’ At the same time, the state minister gave thanks to the subscribers who braved the heatwave throughout the country to re-register their SIMs. She also said that although the government has

announced blocking unregistered SIMs, a total of 15 lakh SIMs of disabled people will not be deactivated.

To avoid harassment, she advised the disabled people to go the customer care centres instead of retailers.

Since the beginning, many people have been campaigning against the move on Facebook and blogs to drum up public support. They question the legality of the government order saying that only the Election Commission can seek such information and fingerprints of the citizens.

The government, however, claims that the fingerprints are not being stored and that vested interests have been campaigning against the process. On the other hand, the BTRC has said that the mobile operators will have to pay $50 for each unverified SIM. In February, the government also formed a panel of experts to monitor the re-registration process. In the last few months, the state minister visited some customer care centres to oversee the process. l

PM: Those conspired to kill Joy won’t be spared n UNB Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday vowed to bring to justice those who conspired both at home and abroad to abduct and kill her son Sajib Wazed Joy in the USA. “The conspiracy has been proved in the USA court,” she told a civic rally arranged at Kotalipara Sheikh Lutfar Rahman Ideal Government College ground in the afternoon.

Referring to a USA court judgement, Hasina said an FBI official and a BNP leader have been sentenced to jail for their involvement in hatching a plot to abduct and kill Joy, also the PM’s ICT Affairs Adviser.

Turning to the recent killings, the Prime Minister said those were ‘planned murders’ and warned that there is no room for terrorism in the country as her government

wants to establish Bangladesh as a peaceful state in the world.

Plots are being hatched by the BNP-Jamaat clique is unlikely to stop unless the conspirators are brought to justice, Hasina said.

Having failed to unseat the government through its movement, the BNP-Jamaat nexus launched a secret killing mission, killing imams, priests, fathers and university teachers alongside common people to destabilise the country, she said.

The prime minister urged imams and guardians to convince people who are engaged in wrongdoings that Islam does not allow killings as it is a religion of peace and tolerance. “Our great Prophet (PBUH) didn’t like excesses over religion... he used to advise not to hurt

the religious sentiment of anybody.”

She accused BNP-Jamaat of creating Bangla Bhai, unleashing terrorism and militancy in different parts of the country and said terrorism and militancy can never bring peace for the country and its people.

Sharply criticising military dictator Ziaur Rahman who illegally captured state power as well as other governments after 1975, she said they had tried to erase the name of Bangabandhu and distorted the history of the great Liberation War. Pointing to some recent killings, Hasina said now parents and guardians can at least file cases and demand trial but her due right to demand trial of the killing of the Father of the Nation and his family members was snatched by the military dictator. l

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Rapid transformation comes to Myanmar Shahariar Zaman n Sheikh from Yangon

Myanmar is experiencing rapid transformation as it started to open up its society in 2011.

The following year, less than 2% of the population had internet connection but “now the number of internet users has risen to as high as 80%,” said Mizzima Media Group Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director Soe Myint yesterday.

He was talking to a group of Bangladeshi journalists now travelling to Yangon.

Before 2013, one had to pay $250 to buy a mobile phone SIM card but now it has come down to as low as $1.5, said Myint, who came back to Yangon in 2012 after staying in New

Delhi in exile for 25 years. Myint set up the Mizzima publication house in 1988 in New Delhi.

Only the state-owned mobile operator had business before 2013 but now there are three companies including Telenor.

“We have now 12 million Viber and eight million Facebook users,” he said, adding that Myanmar had also received over $40 billion foreign direct investment in the last five years.

Myanmar has a population of over 50m.

Myint said that Myanmar police monitor the social media to know about any violation of laws. Citing an example, he said that if anybody violates traffic rules, and someone takes a picture and post it on Face-

next door neighbours, but the people of those countries have little knowledge about each other. We have many success stories and it can be shared through the media,” he suggested.

Exchange of journalists is another way to know the societies, he said, adding: “We have to disseminate information about ourselves so that people of both the countries learn about each other better.”

Mizzima’s Chief Photographer Hong Sar, who visited Dhaka for two weeks in 2014, said that before his trip he had heard that people in Bangladesh were not friendly.

“But when I went there I found the opposite picture and wrote an article on my trip after coming back to Myanmar,” he said.

book, the police would slap a fine on the offender.

The social media penetration has created a lot of expectation among the people and it could be the biggest challenge for the new government “as now everybody is putting forward their suggestions,” Myint said.

The immediate benefit of this opening up is that people can now have information very quickly. He, however, mentioned that the negative side of it is the spread of “hate speech.”

People tend to make hate speech during communal riots, against those who they do not like. Such behaviour creates problems in the society, he said.

“Bangladesh and Myanmar are

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh embassy in Yangon organised a joint celebration of the Bengali and Myanmar new year, Pohela Boishakh and Thingyan yesterday. Chief Minister of Yangon U Phyo Min Thein and his cabinet colleagues in Yangon regional government, local Bangladeshi community, and heads and members of the diplomatic missions attended the programme.

A cultural programme, titled Rhythms and Tunes of Hills of Bangladesh, was presented by Khudra Nrigosthir Sangskritik Institute of Bandarban. Most of the artists were from the Marma community, known as Marmagyi in Myanmar, who fondly trace back their origin to Bago in Myanmar in the period of King Nandabayin. l

Muhith against duty hike on rice import n Syed Samiul Basher Anik Finance minister AMA Muhith recently turned down a proposal from local rice millers and businesses to further increasing the duty on rice import.

The proposal was made to prevent the import of rice with a view to protecting the local millers and farmers. Many millers claimed to have faced loss due to excessive imports from India at cheaper rates.

In response, the minister asked the National Board of Revenue to inform him about the existing duty structure on rice import.

Currently, there is 10% customs duty and 10% regulatory on import of husked (brown) rice, fortified rice kernels, broken rice, and on semi-milled or wholly-milled rice, whether or not polished or glazed during import stage.

Muhith declined to increase the duty as the existing 20% duty had already affected the price of rice in the local market.

“I think there is no need for any more changes,” the finance minister commented on an NBR summary.

He then asked the revenue authorities to look into the matter carefully.

The government last year imposed 20% duty to ensure that the farmers get fair price for crops.

Although Bangladesh is now self-sufficient in rice cultivation, the private sector has long been importing rice from other countries, mostly from neighbouring India due to its low cost.l

A street drama is organised yesterday by Bangladesh Pathanatak Parishad at the Fine Arts Institute in Dhaka University protesting violence against women MEHEDI HASAN

Two shot, one stabbed in muggings in Dhaka n Arifur Rahman Rabbi

Three men were injured by muggers in separate incidents in Dhaka’s Gulshan, Purana Paltan and Khilgaon areas yesterday.

The three victims are Billal Hossain, 40, a bKash agent, Iftekharul Alam, 42, and Sukumar Sarker, 55.

They are under treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Quoting Billal Hossain, DMCH police outpost acting in-charge Sub-In-

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In another incident, Iftekharul was shot in his leg by muggers when he and his niece Taslima was going to a relative’s home in Purana Paltan around 5:30am. Quoting Iftekhar, Nayek Rafiqul Islam of DMCH police outpost said five to six muggers stopped them, getting down from a white car. They snatched away two mobile phones and Tk6,000 from their possession.

Meanwhile, Sukumar Sarkar was stabbed by muggers when he

spector Anisuzzaman said Billal owned a mobile refill shop in Gulshan area and was also a Bkash agent.

When he was walking to work around 9:30am, two muggers on a motorcycle stopped him and took away a lunch box and mobile phone.

Billal had Tk2 lakh hidden inside the lunch box, which he was taking to work for business purposes.

SI Anisuzzaman said the muggers shot Billal’s left hand when he tried to resist the robbing.

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and his family were going to Tangail in an ambulance early yesterday. Sukumar’s son Ajay Sarkar said they lived in Chittagong but his grandmother died of old age complications on Friday and was being taken to their family village in Tangail’s Mirzapur.

Ajay said when they reached Khilgaon, a gang of 10-12 robbers stopped them. They stabbed Sukumar on his hand and looted gold jewellery and valuables worth Tk2 lakh. l Sylhet

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Fajr: 4:17am | Jumma: 11:56pm Asr: 3:22pm | Magrib: 6:32pm Esha: 7:34pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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Khaleda blames government for rise of militancy n Mohammad Al-masum Molla BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday blamed the government for the rise of militancy in the country as it shunned the path of systematic politics and rule of law.

The former premier also alleged that the government is influencing the investigation for the recent killings by accusing opposition leaders and activists while the real masterminds remain hidden.

Khaleda made the comments while addressing the founding

anniversary of Jatiya Ganatantrik Party (Jagpa) at Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in Dhaka.

She said: “Incidents of secret killings and sudden attacks have increased at an alarming rate. Bloggers, university teachers, writers, publishers, foreign citizens, embassy officials and people from different religious communities have been victims of such attacks and killings, and the dreadful thing is that various militant organisations have claimed responsibility for these killings.”

“People of the country are now concerned about their security as the government failed to stop the recurring attacks. Moreover, the government claims that there is no involvement of any international terrorist organisation in the attacks but failed to arrest anyone in this regard. Rather, they are blaming the opposition party which is hampering investigation while the real masterminds remain hidden,” she added.

Khaleda also said: “There have been discussions going around the

AUST teacher suspended on sexual assault charge n UNB A teacher of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) has been suspended following allegations of sexual harassment of two female students of the university.

The authorities concerned of the university took the decision at an emergency meeting yesterday amid students’ demonstrations demanding suspension of the teacher.

Campus sources said the students of the university staged demonstrations in front of the campus for suspending Masudur Rah-

man Ferdous, associate Professor of Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE) around 11 am for sexually harassing two female students of the university.

Earlier, two complaints were lodged to the head of the Department of EEE in this regard.

Later, the Chairman of Department informed the matter to Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof MM Shafiullah.

The meeting also decided to investigate the allegations and take further action against the teacher after getting the probe report. l

country over a US court verdict.

What is that case? One Bangladeshi youth bribed an agent of FBI to get some information about the prime minister’s son? In the case document, it was mentioned that 300 million dollars was in an account of the prime minister’s son.”

“From where did the money come? What is the source of that money? People of the country wants to know what amount of money have they made in such way?”

“The government is silent about

this money. Investigation should take place in this regard and the money should be brought back,” Khaleda added.

The BNP chief later went on alleging that journalist Shafik Rehman was tortured in remand to conceal this scam.

Khaleda said that the incumbent government will not be able to stay in office for long like this.

“So, I ask them to resolve the crisis the country faces through discussion. Time is running out fast,” she added. l

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SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

Two temples attacked, 13 statues damaged n Our Correspondent, Shariatpur Miscreants attacked the Central Ziu Mondir and Rishipara Kali Mondir in Sadar upazila and damaged at least 13 statues of Hindu deities yesterday.

Bimal Krishna Adhikari, president of the Central Ziu Mondir, said a group of miscreants attacked the two mondirs at night and vandalised 13 statues.

Sensing the incident, locals went to to the spot and chased the criminals. They also confined one Sirajul Islam involved with the incident.

Later, they handed him over to police.

Shahidul Islam, sub-inspector of Palong Model police station, said they were trying to arrest the criminals. l

Environmental Groups form human chain in Dhaka University area yesterday demanding chemical free fruits

POLICE ATTACK ON PROTESTORS

Student movement continues demanding proctor’s resignation n JU Correspondent The students at Jahangirnagar University (JU) yesterday brought out a silent procession on campus demanding the resignation of university proctor.

This was following the police attack on students and arrests made on last Monday while observing a half-day hartal as a protest of Comilla Victoria College student Shohagi Jahan Tonu murder.

On the sixth day of the student movement yesterday, around 30 students brought out the rally under the banner of ‘Progressive Students’ Alliance,’ ‘AntiImperialist Students’ Union’ and

‘Jahangirnagar Sangskritik Jote’ around 12pm.

The rally began from social science faculty building and ended in front of JU administrative office parading the important streets in the university, source said.

Later, the student leaders met JU Vice Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam and addressed the students’ demands.

While talking with the students, JU VC Prof Farzana Islam said that they would form a probe committee for the incident on Tuesday and would hold talks with the police authorities on Wednesday regarding the matter.

Jahangirnagar Sangskritik Jote

President Jubayer Tipu said: “We will continue our movement until the ‘irresponsible’ proctor resigns.

A video and photo exhibition programme will be held tomorrow as the part of ongoing movement.”

JU student leaders and activists under the banner of ‘Progressive Students’ Alliance’, ‘AntiImperialist Students’ Union’ and ‘Jahangirnagar Sangskritik Jote’ had launched a blockade on the Dhaka-Aricha highway last Monday demanding justice for Tonu.

Ashulia police voided the blockade charging baton on the protesters reportedly in presence of university’s proctorial team and arrested some 13 students of the

university from Prantik Gate area around 8.40am, sources said.

The protesting students later brought out allegations against JU proctor Prof Tapan Kumar Saha and demanded his removal as he had reportedly failed to fulfill his proctorial duty. The students had also kept the administrative office locked for two hours claiming that policemen launched attack and arrested students with the full concern of the proctor.

However, JU proctor said that the university authorities would not take the responsibility of the police attack and arrest on the protestors as the incident had taken place outside of the university. l

Two held in BASIC bank scam case

Kamal expects talented new generation to lead country efficiently

n

Home Minister M Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said our talented new generation would lead the country more efficiently to materialize Bangabandhu’s dream of Sonar Bangla and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s digital Bangladesh.

“We are leaving the country behind to the members of the most talented and efficient new generation who will effectively lead the country with more competently and efficiently”, he said this as the chief guest while addressing at the reception of GPA-5 students of Mazid-Jarina Foundation School and College at Narkalikata of Nar-

Our Correspondent, Jamalpur

Police arrested two people yesterday in a case filed with Paltan police station over loan fraud in BASIC Bank Ltd. Shamim Ahmed Suja, director of Messers Esarel Auto Bricks Limited, and his brother Sarwar Jahan, were arrested from their residence in Chhankanda area in Jamalpur town around 4am.

Sadar police station OC Abdul Awal said the two, accused in several cases including loan default, have been produced before the court in the morning. l

n BSS

We are leaving the country behind to the members of the most talented and efficient new generation ia upazila under the district this noon.

With Trustee Board Chairman of Mazid-Jarina Foundation School and College IGP AKM Shahidul Haq in the chair, the meeting also was attended by Senior Secretary of the Home Ministry Dr Mozammel Hossen Khan as the special guest.

Deputy Commissioner of Shariatpur District M Mahmudul Hosain Khan, Police Super Saifullah

Al Mamun, District Awami League President Sabedur Rahman Khoka Sikder and Mazid-Jarina Foundation Trustee Board Member and Naria Upazila Parishad Chairman AKM Ismail Haq, among others, were present.

A total of 76 students who got GPA-5 in 2015 from 32 school and Madrasas under Palong, Naria and Shakhipur upazilas were accorded the reception. l

RAJIB DHAR

Sundarbans fire under control

n Our Correspondent, Khulna The fire that erupted in Tultala area of Chandpai range of the Sundarbans in Sarankhola upazila on Wednesday afternoon finally came under control yesterday.

Bagerhat Fire Station deputy assistant director Mohammad Manikuzzaman said the fire was totally under control and the firefighters have already left the area for their stations after taming the blaze.

Four firefighting units from Khulna, Bagerhat Sadar, Morelganj and Sharankhola stations managed to extinguish the blaze with the help of employees of the Forest Department and local people around 12:00pm.

Dhan Sagar Station official Sultan Mahmud said the forest department filed a case accusing six people in connection with the fire incident.

Among them, Sogir Choukidar, a resident of Uttar Rajapur village of Sarankhola upazila, was made the main accused.

“The forest department will investigate the case over the fire incident and submit the report to Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on Sunday,” said the station official.

Mohammad Saidul Islam, forest officer of the forest range (East) of the Sundarban, said the fire caused an estimated loss of Tk2.5 lakh.

Meanwhile, a six-member probe committee, led by Mohammad Moazed Hossain, joint secretary of Environment and Forests Ministry, has been formed to investigate the fire incidents that have taken place in the forest range so far. l

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SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

Halti Beel running out of fish n M Kamal Mridha, Natore The Halti Beel, an important wetland in north-western region of the country located in Natore, once famous for large amount of native fishes throughput the year, is running out of fish.

According to local sources, people living surrounding the beel used to catch fish in a festive mood. Not only that, plenty of fish was sent to the different parts of the country after meeting local demand.

But the current scenario is to-

tally opposite to the previous situation. Most of the time of a year there is no water in the beel.

There were 36 varieties of fish in the beel before, but now most of those are not found. In the rainy season, a group of dishonest people, adjacent to the water body, in the guise of fishermen, take lease of some parts of the beel and catch fish by current nets making embankment here and there of the beel.

Addur Shukur, an elderly person of Kholabaria village, said every year people used to catch fish from

the beel in a festive mood after the rainy season was over, but now that festivity has become obsolete as there is hardly any fish after the rainy season.

Ekabbar Hossain, UP member, said the fish of the beel was very tasty. But now due to the scarcity of fish, they have to buy fish from markets at high price which are tasteless.

As a result, people’s protein intake is suffering setback, the UP member added.

According to a fish research re-

port published recently, there are 260 varieties of sweet water fish and 475 varieties of salt water fish in the country.

Once upon a time, about 50 per cent varieties of sweet water fish were available in the Halti Beel. Of those, 36 species of fish became extinct from the beel during the last 30 years, the report added.

Another study said a total of sixty-three fish species including 55 indigenous and 8 exotic species belonging to 8 orders, 20 families and 41 genera were recorded dur-

ing the investigation period and listed with their nomenclature and systematic position.

District Fisheries Officer Rezaul Islam said flood control embankments and canals were made in unplanned ways. Because of the embankments, the sweet water fishes from other rivers cannot enter the beel’s water easily. As a result, fish cannot breed in the water body.

Besides that, due to excess use of chemical fertilisers, planktons are reducing which are ideal foods for the fishes here. l

Fishermen start catching Ilish as ban lifted n Our Correspondent, Chandpur

Fishermen started catching Ilish in the Meghna River yesterday after 2-month ban imposed by the government expired.

The government banned catching hilsa from March 1 until April 30.

Fishing trawlers started looking for the fish since the expiry on Friday midnight.

The ban is imposed during this time of the year to allow proper breeding that would boost its production. l

Fishermen in Chandpur start catching hilsa in the Meghna River as 2-month ban was lifted yesterday

Manikganj BNP candidates claim intimidation by AL men n Motiur Rahman, Manikganj BNP-backed candidates in Manikganj Sadar upazila have alleged that they have been threatened by Awami League members ahead of the fifth phase of union parishad polls.

On Friday, chairman candidate in Dighi union parishad Md Motiar Rahman and Md Adam Ali, who is expecting BNP nomination in Krishnapur union, complained to the deputy commissioner, superintendent of police and the district Election Commission office in this regard.

Manikganj BNP office also filed a complaint with the Election Commission headquarters.

Adam in his complaint said 10-15 youths intercepted the bus he took to travel to Giland after collecting the nomination form on Thursday noon.

He said the youths dragged him out of the bus and beat him before taking him to the district sports association office where he had been confined for nearly four hours.

They also took away his nom-

ination form, mobile phone and Tk13,000 in cash.

He was later released after local Awami League leader Zakir Hossain intervened.

Awami League members think BNP candidates will win the polls in almost all unions and that is why they are scared Motiar, on the other hand, complained that he had also been picked up by the same youths as he went to the deputy commissioner’s office to collect his nomination form.

He said he had been threatened to pull out of the race and was also taken to the district sports association office where he had been harassed.

BNP-backed candidate in Garpara union Sahiduddin also alleged that he had been threatened not to contest the polls. ”The situation is not favourable, and I am also feeling a strong sense

of insecurity. I will not participate in the elections,” he said.

Selim Miah, another BNPbacked chairman candidate in Zagir union, said Awami League members went to his house and threatened him there.

Manikganj BNP unit President Afroza Khan Rita said Awami League members had threatened BNP contestants as many BNP candidates performed well in the second and third phase of the elections.

“Awami League members think BNP candidates will win the polls in almost all unions and that is why they are scared,” she added.

Md Munir Hossain, Manikganj district election officer, said the complaints of the BNP candidates had been received. ”Those who said their nomination forms were forcefully taken away will be given fresh forms if they apply,” he said.

Mahfuzur Rahman, superintendent of police in Manikganj, said action would be taken if the accused Awami League members were found guilty. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Summit’s Barisal power plant starts operation n Our Correspondent, Barisal Summit Barisal Power Limited’s (SBPL) IPP Power Plant in Barisal, the first private sector power project in the southern region, has started supplying around 110MW of electricity to the national grid.

A group of local journalists visited the power plant on Friday afternoon situated on the northeastern banks of Kirtonkhola river in Barisal.

During the visit, high officials, including Muhammed Aziz Khan, chairman, Md Latif Khan, vice chairman, and Anjuman Aziz Khan, director of Summit Power, briefed the journalists.

The officials said that implementation of this power generation unit was completed within a record time since its construction began only a year ago.

The commercial operation of the plant started on April 5, two months ahead of proposed schedule according to the contract signed between the Power Development Board (PDB) and SBPL, said Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, public relations officer at Summit Power.

The plant is now providing 110 MW of electricity to the national grid as per contract and contributing substantially to meet the demand of electricity in the greater Barisal region, Dalim added.

The complete process of design and construction of the Tk575 crore SBPL project has been implemented under the direct supervision of Wartsila Finland and 70% of the project cost is financed by foreign loans.

The power production tariff of the plant is fixed at Tk6.99 per unit.

The emission level is restricted to a minimum with the approval of the Department of Environment, Dalim claimed.

The desire for a modern, dependable and fuel-efficient power plant in the region was long overdue for the people of Barisal, said Enayet Hossain Chowdhury, freedom fighter and former secretary of Barisal Nagorik Parishad.

The government owned a power plant situated in Barisal which could only produce 40MW of electricity at peak hours against the demand of 150 MW in the greater Barisal region. l

9

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

@ Bloomer Stage Angel Investors

Let’s continue!

Part 2 of 2

Angel Investors are individuals who provide capital for StartUps. The catch? It would be in exchange for convertible debt (money for money) or ownership equity.

Muhammad Saimum Hossain,

Hint:

Co-Founder and Lead Analyst of GEEKY Consulting, is also a finance lecturer at Dhaka University and a successful Bangladeshi Entrepreneur.

Going to an angel with only an idea is a dangerous idea in itself.

They love a “sure thing” than a “maybe.”

When it comes to financial advice for your startup, he’s the perfect fit.

Here are the sources of funds he suggested to keep in mind when launching off your business, along with a few other tips.

@ Bloomer Stage @ Bloomer Stage Bridge loans Bridge loans are short-term loans to give your bank account a boost when you really need it.

Grants Non-repayable funds.

However, it comes with a hefty interest rate and requires high collateral to secure the high-risk loan in the first place.

Hint: There may be strings attached to the funds. Nothing is for free. Look out for conditional circumstances hidden in documents.

@ Experienced Stage @ Experienced Stage Bank Loan The bank shall always keep their arms open for you. However, you must be careful.

Venture Capitalists VCs provide financial backup to emerging firms. They may also provide experienced staff to aid and abet the firm to ensure their investment pays off.

You must be prepared with a thorough understanding of your company’s risks and an lucrative business model to get the bank loan.

Hint: Don’t look for an investor just for money.

Look for those who can add value to your firm.

“Funds shall always come to you if you are aware of your surroundings and choose to network efficiently.

Approach the right people at the right time, and if you truly wish to grow, they will provide opportunities for you.

But of course, before anything else, YOUR performance matters most.”

Content reprinted from www.startup-bd.com

Part two of two

DT

Career

DT

10

Feature

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

Given a chance, they shine n Sifat Mosaddek Bhuiyan Throughout history, social progress of physically challenged members of society has been limited by negligence and sympathy. They still are looked down upon as if one limitation would limit all the other means by which they could become productive members of the national workforce. No one knows how many millions of talented powerhouses have been lost from the pages of history because of the taboo that physically challenged citizens could not be as good as any other in numerous productive activities.

However, things are changing.

From an individual level to professional, people are slowly learning to understand the immense potential that every individual can carry despite one or more limiting factors. It is said that people fear what they do not understand. But the age of information has ensured that people are more aware than ever before, which is why everyone is starting to have their rightful place in the work force, being able to make their contributions to society and the economy.

Different industries in Bangladesh have visibly showed a willingness to hire physically disabled people, or ‘especially able’ as they are being increasingly referred to, in various relevant departments. These workers have applied themselves at work to

such an impressive extent that other industries have followed suit.

The $26.6 billion Ready Made Garment (RMG) industry is a good example in this regard. Many organisations in the industry have fixed a quota to hire physically challenged workers at various professional roles in cooperation with Center for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP) and Center for Disability in Development (CDD), and in collaboration with

the Inclusive Job Center (IJC). CDD mostly visits factories, audits them and suggests amendments that can be implemented to sustain a disability-friendly workplace.

They also help in the development of HR strategies to provide pertinent training on disability development.

CRP, on the other hand, asses the physically challenged workers in terms of mental and physical health, and handles their CVs. The IJC

then provides the qualified workers and arranges interviews with individual factories’ HR personnel. Many organisations directly outsource employment from CRP and other NGOs working with physically challenged members of society.

Md. Moshiul Azam Shajal, managing director of Posmi Sweaters Ltd, Spectra Sweaters Ltd, Sweater Makers Ltd and Fame Sweaters Ltd, has set an example in the industry by setting

a compulsory 5% quota for hiring physically challenged personnel in his organisations. When asked on how that is faring till now, he says, “The physically challenged workers that we have hired are as talented as any other worker in our organisations. I have delightfully observed that when given a responsibility, they give 110% effort to get the job done because they always have an urge to prove their worth. The departments where we have employed physically challenged workers have been doing very well. We have been working closely with IJC, CRP, CDD, and other relevant bodies to ensure optimum working environments for the physically challenged members of our workforce.”

He continues, “It is highly important that we realise the benefits of giving them a chance to prove themselves. They would add value to the existing workforce. Being able to earn in exchange of work would allow them to be self-sufficient, and have greater self-esteem. It would also have a positive impact on the state of employment in our country.”

Bangladesh has been making progress in various aspects of the Human Development Index.

Increased appreciation of the talent fostered by the physically challenged members of our society would take Bangladesh a few steps further in this aspect.

Moreover, it would be exemplary not only for all the industries in Bangladesh, but also for other countries. l

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Editorial 11

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

INSIDE

Fascism from below Conventional fascists are products of modernity and extreme rationality unhinged from morality and humanity.

Existing fascism from below denounces modernity, progress, and enlightenment PAGE 12

Non-reply doesn’t make Agusta nonissue You can spin a web to hide the truth if you control the instruments of power, but that game only lasts as long as you are in office

BIGSTOCK

PAGE 13

Equal pay for equal work

The work they do What picture can we see now, three years after the deadly Rana Plaza collapse that took the lives of more than 1,000 workers? Only recently did the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund meet its target of $30 million. But the fight for justice has merely begun PAGE 14

Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/ DhakaTribune.

The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors alone. They do not purport to be the official view of Dhaka Tribune or its publisher.

T

oday’s May Day public holiday is an apt time to look at gender inequality.

As an issue affecting half of humanity, it is unarguably the biggest single labour rights issue affecting countries all around the world.

Women’s empowerment has been crucial in boosting Bangladesh’s ability to grow exports and in underpinning improvements in social welfare. It is in everyone’s interest that public policy keeps looking forward to support this goal.

Few people can be surprised by the recent ActionAid study which reported that women in South Asia earn 80% less than men. There are many reasons for this, including the unequal distribution of care and household work and the persistence of informal barriers in education and workplaces.

The best way that the government can tackle the attitudes underlying such forms of indirect discrimination is to take a tougher approach to direct discrimination within workplaces.

Progressive laws to secure maternity leave and fight sexual harassment will only have piecemeal effect in breaking glass ceilings, while overt discrimination remains commonplace in determining pay rates or in selection processes for employment and promotion.

The law needs to uphold the principle that employers should provide equal pay to both men and women for work of equal value. There should be no tolerance for advertisements which bar women from applying for jobs, or for women workers to be discriminated against in pay rates when they do comparable work to men.

The government should examine different professions to highlight patterns of discrimination, whether overt or unintentional, in pay rates and support the development of easy to use legal mechanisms for workers to seek redress.

Such discrimination overwhelmingly impacts poorer women workers, notably in domestic employment. It is high time it is ended. Ensuring equality in the workplace is essential to increase opportunity and help all Bangladeshis make the most of their potential.

Ensuring equality in the workplace is essential to increase opportunity for all

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Opinion

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

Fascism from below It doesn’t matter where it comes from if it threatens us all

Religious extremism is simply a form of fascism from below

n Habib Khondker

A

simple equation differentiates democracies from authoritarian systems.

Paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson, it can be said that, in a democracy, the government is fearful of the people, and in an authoritarian system, the people are scared of the government.

Fascism is an extreme version of authoritarianism infused with an ideology with attendant spread of a culture of fear. When sections of people are scared to death of other sections of faceless people, it can be conceived as “fascism from below.”

Fascism from below may or may not be directly linked to groups or organisations inside or outside the country. Given their Medieval mentality and choice of weapons, they seem to be home-grown and may have loose links with external groups. What, however, binds them to external extremist hordes is their extremist belief. A belief that is toxically intolerant of differences, devoid of humanity and love.

Conventional fascists are products of modernity and extreme rationality unhinged from morality and humanity.

Existing fascism from below denounces modernity, progress, and enlightenment. Their goal is to reject, deconstruct, and destroy civilisations and civility. They hate heritage, art, culture, music, poetry, cricket, cinema, literature, and, most of all, differences. They want to annihilate everything

decent folks in the 21st century like.

Not only are sections of the people afraid of them, the government is scared of them, the main opposition political parties are scared of them, the super NGOs are scared of them, hence the fascists from below have won this round.

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

show guests, some members of the civil society, and the students and teachers who took to the streets, registered an extraordinary bold statement and provided the only ray of hope.

The state lacks real power to stand up to the fascists from below. The state knows its many limitations (too many to list here)

of democracy is taking place.

Bangladesh, probably, had very little substantive democracy to begin with. The veneer of unraveling procedural democracy has a complicated relationship with the rise of bottom-up fascism, which is more directly linked to a failure in governance.

The government (not just the

Conventional fascists are products of modernity and extreme rationality unhinged from morality and humanity. Existing fascism from below denounces modernity, progress, and enlightenment. Their goal is to reject, deconstruct, and destroy civilisations and civility. They hate heritage, art, culture, music, poetry, cricket, cinema, literature, and, most of all, differences None of the above-mentioned groups came out to issue a strongly worded protest to condemn the murders of the innocent professors, writers, and publishers. The NGOs should not be put on the spot for not voicing their protests -- they have to be judged by their actions. The varieties of development work they initiate provide a bulwark against the spread of such a grassroots variety of fascism.

The government and the civil society need to leverage NGOs in spreading enlightened values of tolerance and freedom. Sadly, sometimes, the government takes the NGOs to task without properly assessing their contribution in the long run. The faint voices of talk

one of which -- relevant to this discussion -- is the sympathy or lack of antipathy of many within the state towards the home-grown fascists. That’s precisely why some statements of the state elites end with a “but.”

The government’s growing intolerance of the freedom of print media also sows seeds of suspicion in the minds of the people.

The discussion of progressive disappearance of the space for critical debates and the erosion of democratic values and spirit gets traction among the intelligentsia.

The link between a “democracy deficit” and the rise of fascism is more complicated.

This is a classic case of ecological fallacy. Yes, an erosion

present one) has been consistent in its inability to administer a system of justice and criminal administration that would instill a sense of security in the minds of the people. The culture of immunity is an expression of sustained failure in establishing good governance with regard to administration of justice.

In fact, an efficient, smart, and non-democratic government -- as many examples from Asia corroborate -- would be better equipped to rein in criminality at the grassroots level.

There is a possibility that the rise of fascism from below will make an authoritarian democracy even more authoritarian, with a heavy cost of diminished human

rights. It is time to re-think simplistic categorisation between democracy and authoritarianism.

Most democracies carry within them a good many authoritarian tendencies and vice versa.

Democracy continues to be a running target.

In a fascist state, the Gestapo or the Black Shirts knock on your doors in uniforms, the fascists from below strike at random -- they lack uniform as much as a face. They could be anyone -Professor Rezaul Karim Siddique’s student or a friend of the student or a stranger who took note of the civility of the professor and his love for music.

Think about the depth of vulnerability that a great majority of Bangladeshis are in right now.

For them, fear and compliance to the wishes of the fascists from the below is an understandable strategy. And this survival strategy may snowball into the dominant norms of a society.

Rather than blaming political rivals in a predictable fashion -- playing the blame game and making comparisons with crime in other countries -- one should look inward and try to understand how we got here. A conversation between the political society and the civil society is the need of the hour.

Inclusion of forces against fascism will yield better results than internecine conflicts among the protagonists of rationality and freedom regardless of their political affiliations. l Habib Khondker is a sociologist.

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Opinion

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

Non-reply doesn’t make Agusta non-issue Mrs Sonia Gandhi should know that bravado is rarely a substitute for facts, if at all

n MJ Akbar

T

here is a term in government parlance called “non-paper,” basically designed to cover grey space, to suggest a position without offering any commitment. Indian politics should now acknowledge the emergence of a new term that extends this concept to the edge: A “non-reply”.

The purpose of a non-reply is to camouflage any response with so much assertion that volume and attitude disguise equivocation. Or, if you want to shift the metaphor into cricket terminology, when you have to snick, snick hard and pray that the ball, instead of being caught in the slips, races to the boundary.

When Mrs Sonia Gandhi was asked about the reference to her name in the Italian court judgment, convicting an arms company’s executives for giving bribes, she replied defiantly that she was not afraid of anyone. It may be perfectly true that Mrs Gandhi is not afraid, but that was not the question.

Indeed it might even be true that Mrs Gandhi is not afraid of the law. After all, whenever Congress has been in power during the last three decades, either directly or indirectly, it is others who have been afraid of Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

Even when her party is out of power and in a bit of shambles, it remains completely in thrall to

How did James Christian Michel, the middleman at the heart of the AgustaWestland scandal and a familiar face on Delhi’s powerparty circuit, suddenly leave the capital on February 13, 2013 -- one day after CBI registered a preliminary enquiry after details were revealed abroad?

Why did Michel receive 18 million euros from AgustaWestland for the “purchase” of discarded Pawan Hans helicopters when their worth, as scrap, was only 5% of that value (AgustaWestland has not been renamed Father Christmas Private Limited)?

Who was this money meant for? The Italian court judgment refers to a powerful Indian “FAM”: Which political FAM was the most powerful family during the UPA regime? It also mentions “AP” as a beneficiary. Now who could this AP be?

Congress leaders have been vocal about the fact that they cancelled the helicopter contract when news of bribery broke out.

Very interesting. What happened to the massive advance that was given to AgustaWestland for the contract? Why has that advance never been returned? Is the end result then that AgustaWestland kept the advance and did not deliver enough helicopters to cover the advance, winning twice in the money game?

We also learn that AgustaWestland budgeted Rs50cr to persuade the Indian media

Something is eating away at Sonia Gandhi’s conscience

Something dramatic has begun to unravel, thanks to a court case in Italy, and much more will become public knowledge as the investigation process gathers momentum in India. You can spin a web to hide the truth if you control the instruments of power, but that game only lasts as long as you are in office

her, according her the privileges of quasi-divinity. She can do no wrong. She is never accountable.

Such unquestioning obedience can become addictive.

This deference, however, is between party and leader. What is not so cosy is the relationship between Congress leaders involved in the AgustaWestland helicopter scandal and the country, which wants to know what happened to its money.

There is no shortage of questions. Here’s one for starters:

to wear blindfolds, or perhaps become its defence counsel in possible media trials. That is another can of worms waiting to be opened.

One could go on, but it would be merely repetitive.

Unsurprisingly, the Congress defence has been muddled by either inaccuracy or bluster in order to cloud facts with verbiage.

Witness only the claim made in parliament that the Congress government had blacklisted AgustaWestland. It did not.

Or the spurious allegation, abetted by a false newspaper report, that some sort of a deal was made between the present prime ministers of India and Italy.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley categorically exposed this lie on the floor of the Rajya Sabha, and Congress has gone quiet on this fabrication since then.

Bravado is not a substitute for facts. It really is as simple as that.

Something dramatic has begun to unravel, thanks to a court case in Italy, and much more will

become public knowledge as the investigation process gathers momentum in India. You can spin a web to hide the truth if you control the instruments of power, but that game only lasts as long as you are in office.

There was a time when the CPI[M] and CPI would have been on the front lines of this offensive against corruption. Today, the Marxists are compromised. In Bengal, their attack on Mamata Banerjee for corruption rings hollow, given their silence over AgustaWestland. If the Marxists cannot castigate the Western “corrupt capitalist-industrialmilitary complex,” then there is not much else to say, is there?

A non-reply may or may not purchase temporary relief, but it never makes corruption a nonissue. l MJ Akbar is an Indian journalist. He is the founder of The Sunday Guardian.

This article was previously published in The Sunday Guardian.

REUTERS

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Opinion

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

The work they do What better way to celebrate May Day than by making a case for worker rights?

A safe workplace is the most basic of worker rights, but one that is rarely ensured in Bangladesh

What picture can we see now, three years after the deadly Rana Plaza collapse that took the lives of more than 1,000 workers? Only recently did the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund meet its target of $30 million. But the fight for justice has merely begun

n Shahabuddin Rajon

D

r Martin Luther King once said: “All labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and status and should be undertaken with meticulous excellence.” Let us revive that essence of liberty.

May Day is the most appropriate occasion to highlight the need for taking care of the rights of the millions of workers who are engaged in all sectors and subsectors in Bangladesh’s economy.

One of the bigger sectors is, of course, RMG. It’s sad to see that, once again, designers and their “cutting-edge” collections have eclipsed the grim reality facing the people who make those clothes. The bleak image of a worker’s life and his/her struggle to earn a livelihood is not pleasant to the senses. Right now,

in sweatshops across the world, millions of garment workers, mainly women, struggle to survive on poverty wages and provide for their children. Sometimes, they are forced to work 14-hour days in appalling conditions.

The fast-moving fashion industry is inherently exploitative.

It’s never been about one brand being bad and another one being good, but in this highly competitive industry, the race to the bottom usually means poor working conditions and poverty pay for those who produce the clothes we wear.

What picture can we see now, three years after the deadly Rana Plaza collapse that took the lives of more than 1,000 workers? Only recently did the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund meet its target of $30 million. But the fight for justice has merely begun.

Big brands reap billions of dollars chasing the lowest production costs they can find, moving from one country to another when costs rise too much.

This creates a perpetual race to the bottom, in which workers’ rights are suppressed by factories which employ them and by the governments that supposedly oversee the factories in question.

But there are measures that can be taken to prevent worker abuse.

Trade unions benefit both workers and organisations

Forming trade unions is perhaps the only way to manage compliance and control over the workforce. To defend or improve wages and working condition for workers and protect the general interests of the workers -- strengthening their bargaining power collectively, establishing efficient communica-

RAJIB DHAR

tions between the employer and management -- trade unions work as the negotiation machine to enhance the overall effectiveness of an organisation.

In fact, the objectives of a trade union are varied and everchanging, in accordance to the need of the economy and the overall industry.

It is surprising to note that most trade union leaders don’t really discuss pertinent issuse such as women’s welfare, maternity leave, or even more general issues such as getting weekends off, overtime pay, worker compensation, fair wages, discrimination, the ever-present issue of child labour, occupational health and safety, job security, or even better working conditions.

Strictly speaking, trade unions in Bangladesh have generally failed to address labour rights in the era of globalisation. Since 80% of all apparel workers are female, the formation of trade unions and launching labour movements still remain a major constraint as they do not have any prior experience.

Why trade unions aren’t popular yet The prime cause of fear behind the formation of trade unions in our country is mistrust between employees and employers.

Employers believe that trade unions will bring nothing but destruction and vandalism, spelling doom for factories.

What we should be doing is nurturing a sustainable industrial relationship. It has to be understood that no one is against the concept of trade unions, but workers need to come first in forming them.

Given the global nature of the RMG industry, and of its shortcomings, improving worker conditions calls for a global solution. The most efficient approach is perhaps to increase the costs to the big brands, letting them foot the bill for tolerating poor working conditions in the first place.

This is also the fairest approach.

As the main drivers and the main beneficiaries of the global garment industry, it’s the big brands that are ultimately responsible for the basic welfare of all the workers who sweat for their bottom line.

Independent trade unions can help pressure global brands.

To counteract the brands’ bad habit of playing one “producing country” off another, local unions could potentially co-ordinate with international union groups to demand that working standards be synchronised across the global production chain.

Governments from sourcing countries should act together as well. Rather than being driven by the fear of losing out to one another, forming a bloc and insisting that the big brands set uniform standards for wages, union rights, and workplace safety would absolutely send out a message to big brands.

It is also a good sign that the Bangladesh government has already made the process of starting and registering trade unions easier and more transparent, which has helped spur their adoption, although there remains a lack of trust between companies and unions.

We can hope that, within the next few years, our workers will fully enjoy the benefits of social rights.

Mere ritual observance of this day cannot change the lives of millions of Bangladeshi workers.

We need to actually “work” for a world where worker rights are a reality and no longer a wild goose chase. l Shahabuddin Rajon is Assistant Deputy Secretary at BKMEA and an employee member of the United States Green Building Council.

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INSIDE Tarana: Tower business guidelines in the offing The government will prepare guidelines for tower business in telecom sector keeping in mind the cost efficiency of operators that build and maintain towers separately and that will ultimately benefit end users. PAGE 16

Iran snags more European oil buyers in slog for market share Two European refiners are set to receive their first oil cargoes from Iran since international sanctions were lifted in January against the country, which is ramping up crude exports in a battle to take back market share. PAGE 17

Eurozone economy finally reaches precrisis levels The eurozone’s economy grew far beyond expectations in the first quarter of 2016, finally surpassing pre-crisis levels after eight years, as cheap oil and credit made itself felt. PAGE 18

Capital market snapshot: Past Week DSE Broad Index

4,340.3

-1.5% ▼

Index

1,057.9

-0.8% ▼

30 Index

1,666.2

-1.0% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

19,330.2

10.6% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

491.9

16.3% ▲

All Share Index 13,382.0

-1.4% ▼

30 Index

-1.8% ▼

CSE 12,257.2

Selected Index

8,130.5

-1.4% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

1,195.4

15.5% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

40.6

18.5% ▲

WB skeptical of growth rate claim n Kayes Sohel The World Bank remains skeptical about the government’s estimated economic growth of over 7% as it finds no match between higher growth and some economic indicators.

“Many data series like exports, imports, remittance, reserves, NBR collections, Annual Development Programme utilisation and domestic credit flows are unfortunately full of noise, making it difficult to extract the signals on the direction in which the economy is moving..,” said the bank in its latest report on Bangladesh Development update released in the city yesterday.

“No economic indicators except export grew faster in the fiscal year 2015-16,” it said.

WB lead economist in Dhaka Dr Zahid Hussain said the 7% official growth estimate is not easy to reconcile with the growth indicators such as remittance, export, industrial production, import of industrial raw materials and capital machinery.

“The question is not about whether the Bangladesh economy has done well. It has demonstrated resilience to internal and external headwinds time and again,” said the World Bank.

“The question is about whether the official estimate is consistent with other growth-related indicators and whether resilience of growth can be sustained without getting the private investment rate out of the recent 21%-22% of GDP trap.”

The report said a proper assessment of the damage to growth caused by strikes, blockade, associated tensions and uncertainties has both political and economic values, and it is politically valu-

MEDIUM TERM MACROECONOMIC OUTLOOK

able to build a public consensus against disruptive politics.

“Most importantly, we need to know the truth about growth!,” Referring to the bank’s estimate of direct production loss of around 1% of GDP inflicted by political turmoil, the bank said: “BBS’s preliminary estimate of GDP growth in FY’15 is unlikely to capture the impact of political turmoil. The proxies and methods used to estimate production and expenditures work well in a normal year, but fail to capture the impact of disruptions in an abnormal year.”

“As in most developing countries, for several parts of the accounts, only partial data are available, or complete data are available only for an earlier period. The national accountants then have to base their estimates on

assumptions about relationships between some currently available statistic and their target statistic,” said the report.

“No more than 34% of total GDP on the production side is based on information that directly measures the target variable. This implies that a substantial portion of the accounts are still based on outdated statistics and assumptions pertaining mostly to inputs.

These estimates are based on information some of which date back even 20 years.”

This may have mattered less when GDP was growing slowly, but with the rapid growth recorded since 1990s, the assumptions of stable relationships are highly questionable particularly during times when business as usual is thrown off track by exogenous po-

litical shocks.

In its report titled South Asia Economic Focus released in midApril last downgraded Bangladesh GDP growth to 6.3% from the 6.7% it had forecast earlier in January this year. It did not mention the GDP growth in its latest report released on the day.

It, however, sees ensuring durable political stability is the main challenge fro Bangladesh to move forward as this is a precondition for accelerated, inclusive, and sustainable growth.

For this fiscal year, the IMF had projected 6.8%, Asian Development Bank 6.7% and the government’s 7.05% economic growth for Bangladesh. Recently, the government had claimed that the GDP growth has already exceeded 7% in first nine months of the current fiscal year. l

Sentiment turns extremely bearish as investors lose faith in BB measure n Kayes Sohel Fear deepened and sentiment was extremely bearish as stock markets’ down-slide entered the fourth consecutive week despite relaxing rules on banks stock market exposure.

The markets reacted negatively to the Bangladesh Bank’s measure of preventing continuous sell-off in the stock markets.

Other factors like lower than expected dividend declarations

by some companies acted as woes to the market jitters.

During the past week that ended Thursday, the benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, saw a steep fall of over around 145 points or 3.4% to 4,195—its lowest since May 7, 2015.

The blue-chip comprising index DS30 fell nearly 54 points or over 3% to 1,612. The DSE Shariah Index, DSES, was down about 33 points or 3% to 1,025.  PAGE 17 COLUMN 1

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Tarana: Tower business guidelines in the offing n Ishtiaq Husain The government will prepare guidelines for tower business in telecom sector keeping in mind the cost efficiency of operators that build and maintain towers separately and that will ultimately benefit end users.

State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said this at a seminar on “The Prospect of Tower Business in Bangladesh” organised by a Telecom Reporters Network, Bangladesh (TRNB) at Westin Hotel in the capital.

“Uncontrolled telecom towers harm environment…….We will consider level playing field to allow new player for tower business, but up gradation of network would also be considered during making policy,” Tarana said in her address as the chief guest.

TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general, Association of Mobile Telecom Operator Association of Bangladesh (AMTOB), Abu Saeed Khan, senior fellow policy of LIRNEAsia, Taimur Rahman, senior director of GR and Regulation of Banglalink, and Moynul Haque Siddiqui, managing director of Fiber@home, attended the seminar.

Telecom Reporters’ Network Bangladesh (TRNB) president Rased Mehdi moderated the seminar while

State Minister for Telecommunications Tarana Halim addresses a seminar on ‘The Prospect of Tower Business in Bangladesh’ yesterday COURTESY its general secretary Shamim Ahmed presented the keynote paper.

The state minister said the upcoming policy on tower business would ensure foreign direct investment.

“We would create competitiveness in tower business…Monopoly business would be discouraged through ensuring level playing field in the sector.”

She said the government would also consider ensuring lower tower through sharing cost so that consumers can get benefit of it.

At the seminar, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said BTRC encourage investment in telecom sector.

He said the commission would provide tower sharing licences in an open tender.

“A total of 36,000 mobile towers have so far been installed whereas it would require only 24,000 towers. This is due to lack of tower sharing, but the quality of service is very poor,” Shahjahan said.

Tower would be increased after

introduction of 4G, he added.

The BTRC chair expressed his dissatisfaction over installation of five towers on the roof of BIRDEM Hospital building in Shahbag due to lack of sharing attitude.

Shahjahan said they would form a new company to run tower sharing.

Of the company, BTRC would allow 51% investment from local sources and the rest from foreign direct investment.

Posts and Telecommunications additional sectary Shawkat Mostafa said the government would formulate tower sharing licence guidelines with the consent of shareholders.

According to Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, qualified firms should be allowed to get licence for tower business.

The existing mobile phone operators’ towers will also be considered in the guidelines, he said.

Shahed Alam, executive vice-president of Robi, echoed the same as Mahmud.

He said experienced companies should be taken into consideration for the tower business, he opined.

BTRC’s System and Services Division Director General Amdadul-Bari said mobile operators share only 18% tower among each other. l

MoU to implement National Single Window for business n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The National Board of Revenue plans a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to effectively implement National Single Window (NSW), a virtual platform for the businesses to do business from home, by harmonising legislations among ministries and organisations.

A sub-committee will draft the MoU in consultation with the members of NSW Working Group, according to officials.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting with NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman in the chair. Nojibur Rahman is also the president of the working group committee.

The NSW is expected to improve operation of trade eliminating paper work and reducing trade deal costs and time as it will provide upto-date information.

NSW is a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory re-

quirements.

The virtual platform technology simplifies trade, saves time and money and increases efficiency by submitting export, import documentation and transit-related regulatory requirements through one electronic portal, allowing agencies to easily access information.

During the meeting, the working group members discussed how the NSW can ease procedures of doing business and reduce costs.

The Bangladesh government is implementing the NSW as recommended by the World Bank. The NSW would be established under the Regional Connectivity Project of the World Bank.

The NBR customs wing will act as the lead agency for setting up the NSW and will provide services to investors, entrepreneurs, exporters and importers in the NSW. The meeting has emphasised taking strong initiative against cyber attack.

According to the meeting minutes, the working group will hold meeting on every last Sunday of

month, and will co-opt at least one private sector representative in the NSW project implementation unit.

The NSW is expected to improve trade operation eliminating paper work The revenue authorities on December 15 last year formed a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) to establish the NSW with NBR member (customs modernisation) as the Project Director.

The PIU is responsible for undertaking necessary actions in line with the recommendation from Inter Ministerial and Transport Facilitation Committee (ITTFC), National Council for Trade and Transport Facilitation (NCTTF) and NSW Working Group for implementation of it.

The working group meeting also decided to consult with the ICT Division of the government about the use of space at the primary and sec-

ondary data centres of Bangladesh Computer Council.

It also decided to include names of Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) and Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority with the list of Certificate License and Permit Issuing Agencies (CLPIA) in the NSW working group.

Required number of thematic groups will also be formed by incorporating the Directorate of Explosives, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and Directorate of Patent, Design and Trademarks in the group with detailed work plan.

NBR officials said the NSW will be linked with customs of NBR, Bangladesh Bank, Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms, banks, Board of Investment and other service-providing agencies.

The group is working to identify problems and challenges in implementing the project and is assigned to take steps to resolve the glitches. It will also take long-term, medium-term, short-term, annual and monthly plans and will be responsible for implementing it. l

DSE, CSE get full tax exemption this fiscal year n Syed Samiul Basher Anik Bangladesh’s two stock exchanges were exempted from tax on their income for the fiscal year 2015-16 to help the current reform programmes underdemutualisation scheme.

The decision comes after requests from the stock exchanges authorities to Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

A Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) was issued on April 21 in this regard, signed by Internal Resources Division’s senior secretary and National Board of Revenue Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman.

Earlier, in the FY2014-15 budget, the government offered tax exemption for 5 years to the demutualised stock exchanges at gradually reducing rates “to maintain stability in the country’s capital market.”

However, both the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange recently sent separate letters to finance minister seeking another complete tax exemption on income during the fiscal year 2015-16.

In response to the request, the government has offered a 100% waiver during the current fiscal year.

In its letter, the CSE argued that the exchange needed the facility to enhance its financial and operational capacities, and that “would be in greater interest of the stock market.”

The CSE feared that its net asset value would decline and the share prices might drop if the tax was not exempted, and this could lead to difficulties for the exchange in getting fair prices from strategic shareholders.

Both the DSE and CSE became demutualised stock exchanges in November 2013 following enactment of the Demutualisation Act and turned into profit-oriented entities.

As per Demutualisation Act 2013, the bourse will have to sell 25% of its total issued shares to strategic shareholders by 2016.

“It will be very difficult for the bourse to sell its shares at expected high prices to the strategic investors if the NAV drops,” reads the letter.

The DSE, in its letter, sought the tax benefit for continuation of its ongoing reform measures under the demutualisation scheme.

“The tax exemption will help the DSE attract strategic foreign investors for selling its shares in line with the conditions of demutualisation,” claimed the DSE letter signed by Managing Director Swapan Kumar Bala.

Finally, the government has approved their requests offering them full exemption.

As per the latest SRO, the DSE and CSE will enjoy relaxation in income tax payment until FY2018-19. l

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

Iran snags more European oil buyers in slog for market share n Reuters, London Two European refiners are set to receive their first oil cargoes from Iran since international sanctions were lifted in January against the country, which is ramping up crude exports in a battle to take back market share.

Iran has pledged to increase production following sanctions lifting, and it declined to participate in a meeting on April 17 of producer group OPEC and non-member nations aimed at reaching a deal to freeze output to prop up prices.

The talks collapsed.

Italy’s IPLOM booked a 1 million barrel cargo of Iranian crude that is sailing towards the country aboard the Poetic, industry sources told Reuters. It will be the first post-sanctions cargo to arrive in Italy.

Oil trading and shipping sources said Greek refiner Motor Oil Hellas would also receive its first post-sanctions delivery of Iranian crude aboard the Kriti Breeze, which loaded at Kharg Island on April 20.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Both refiners bought Iran’s oil before sanctions against the country’s nuclear programme effectively halted its shipments to Europe, which had accounted for more

A general view shows cars at a petrol station in Tehran, Iran than a third of its exports.

France’s Total, Spain’s Cepsa and Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum have booked Iranian crude for their European refineries this year.

Others, including Italy’s Saras and ENI, have expressed interest in buying. But exports have been much slower than Iran targeted due to struggles with shipping and insurance.

Iran’s exports peaked at just over 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2011, making it the sec-

ond-largest exporter that year after Saudi Arabia. Its exports fell to a little more than 1 million bpd after tougher sanctions in 2012.

According to data from Energy Aspects, global imports of Iran’s crude rose in March to 1.9 million bpd, from 1.51 million bpd in February.

“Buyers are gradually finding ways to handle the issues with shipping insurance and banking transactions, which in the end are hurdles rather than insurmountable

REUTERS

barriers,” said Richard Mallinson, an analyst with Energy Aspects.

“As more buyers join in we could see flows to Europe increase, which is certainly a goal for Iran.”

Mallinson noted though that most exports had come from inventories rather than output from oil fields, meaning Iran could struggle to sustain the levels as stocks drawn down.

A global excess of oil also means there is stiff competition for buyers. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

Sentiment turns bearish The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, closed at 7,850 with a loss of 280 points or 3.5%.

The uncertainty over the market and the confusion over the central bank’s measure may be blunting the effectiveness of what has been announced, said analysts.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh Bank relaxed the rules related to banks’ investment in stocks in a move to prop up the capital market.

On Wednesday evening, Bangladesh Bank relaxed the rules related to the banks’ investment in stocks in a move to boost the ailing market.

It said now the banks will not have to sell shares to adjust their stock market exposure exceeding the permitted ceiling.

“The development will enable banks to make fresh investments in stocks, although the stock market exposure ceiling remains unchanged at 25% of their capital.”

Under this situation, most investors preferred to stay on the sidelines, which was reflected in the DSE daily average turnover of Tk351 crore, down more than 9%

over the previous week’s average.

Lanka Bangla Securities said despite positive indication in the macroeconomic indicators of the country and comparatively stable political state of affairs compared to previous April, the market could not rebound due to lack of investors’ confidence.

It said the DSEX broke major support zone around 4,200 and reached nearly 12-month low to next support zone to 4,195.

IDLC Investments said the market passed a difficult week as prices of most of the issues fell. Amid slowed activities, sell pressure pushed the market into the negativity territory, it added.

Despite relaxing rules by the central bank related to banks’ investment in stocks in a move to boost the ailing market, the market did not respond positively, it said.

Sheltech Brokerage said mainly large cap stocks took the beating as BB denied extending the exposure adjustment time frame though it said it would provide policy support so that banks’ will not need to adjust by selling any shares. l

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BGMEA board of directors congratulate its president Siddiqur Rahman yesterday as he has been elected director of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines board BGMEA

Oil prices reach 2016 highs n AFP, London

World oil prices struck 2016 high points this week as a weaker dollar attracted buyers to a market struggling to overcome a global supply glut.

Dollar-denominated oil has become more attractive for buyers of rival currencies despite lingering concerns about excess output, thanks to the US unit falling heavily, particularly against the yen.

The dollar’s fall comes as the US Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting on Wednesday, signalling it was in no hurry to raise borrowing costs.

The dollar has since fallen sharply against the yen after the Bank of Japan decided against additional stimulus measures for the struggling Japanese economy.

On Friday, the Brent oil contract reached $48.50 a barrel - the highest level since early November.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hit a near six-month peak at $46.63. Brent is meanwhile on course for its best monthly gain since May 2009, noted David Cheetham, analyst at trading firm XTB, on the final trading day of April.

“The 22 percent rise so far in April has seen the market move back above the $48 handle for the first time since early November,” he added.

Around 1300 GMT, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June was slightly off Friday’s high, though still up nine cents compared with Thursday’s close, at $48.23 a barrel.

WTI for June stood at $46.49, up 46 cents.

“Nothing appears capable of stopping the surge in oil prices at the moment,” Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said this week.

“Attention is paid to any news that fits in with the general picture of rising prices, whereas any news that does not is largely ignored,” he added.

Oil prices has won support in recent days also from speculation that Saudi Arabia is planning to cut back drilling as the market worries about excessive global supplies. l

VAT intelligence unit seizes 31 lorries n Tribune Report The value-added tax audit intelligence and investigation directorate has seized 31 lorries and covered vans over the past seven days as they were carrying goods which evaded VAT. In separate drives, the VAT intelligence officials stopped vehicles on the streets and checked if they had any VAT payment receipts or challans.

The vehicles were seized as they had failed to show relevant docu-

ments including the VAT challans and valid trade documents, and the goods were released and being transported abusing the bonded warehouse facility.

Most of these lorries were carrying goods from textile manufacturing companies, officials said.

They said manufacturers took the goods out of manufacturing units dodging VAT, which is common among a section of manufacturers.

According to the law, a vehicle transporting products from factories to distributors or to

wholesalers must have to carry VAT payment receipts known as VAT challan as a proof of VAT payment.

Currently, there is a 4% VAT applicable at manufacturing stage.

The authorities have filed cases against owners of those companies and kept the vehicles at the Dhaka Customs House and the National Board of Revenue.

The directorate is conducting such drives after having such power in the 2015-16 fiscal year’s budget. l

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Eurozone economy finally reaches pre-crisis levels n AFP, Brussels The eurozone’s economy grew far beyond expectations in the first quarter of 2016, finally surpassing pre-crisis levels after eight years, as cheap oil and credit made itself felt.

Inflation in Europe however remained very low and a source of concern with the threat of long term damage caused by falling prices weighing on the economy.

The Eurostat statistics agency said growth in the eurozone accelerated in January to March, to 0.6%.

This expansion beat expectations for 0.4% growth and was double the level posted in the two previous quarters, putting the eurozone on course to grow by 1.6% year-on-year.

The recovery in the 19-nation single currency area, for years mired in a debt crisis and low growth, contrasts with disappointing figures in the United States, which disappointed analysts with an annual rate of growth of just 0.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Analysts said the jump in eurozone growth meant the benefits of cheap oil and low borrowing rates were finally making their way to consumers.

“Good news from the eurozone: One by one, the pieces are falling into place,” said Holger Schmieding, of Berenberg Bank.

The Eurostat statistics agency said growth in the eurozone accelerated in January to March, to 0.6% “Despite the serious market turbulence in January and February, the eurozone economy started rather well into 2016,” he said.

In further positive news, eurozone unemployment in March fell to 10.2%, its lowest level since 2011, Eurostat said.

“The European Central Bank will certainly be encouraged by the marked first quarter pick-up in eurozone GDP growth, and will no doubt argue that it shows its mon-

etary policy is working,” said Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight.

The ECB has slashed interest rates to zero percent, beefed up its controversial bond-buying and made vast amounts of cheap loans available to banks in a bid to jumpstart inflation and boost the economy.

Sharp declines

On the downside for the ECB, eurozone inflation in April fell back

AFP

into negative territory, data also showed.

The renewed bout of deflation will feed into accusations that the ECB measures to boost prices are not working.

Eurostat said inflation in April was negative 0.2%, compared with a revised zero percent in March.

The eurozone was previously at the negative level in February.

Analysts surveyed by Factset data research company had pro-

jected inflation of zero percent.

Fighting deflation - a persistent and debilitating decline in prices that weighs on the economy - has been the ECB’s top priority.

But the ECB has received biting criticism in Germany for sparking the rise of political anxiety and populism over the state of the economy.

German savers in particular are angry that the ECB policies are eroding their earnings.

“Drilling down into the detail it’s not hard to see where most of that decline (in prices) came from with sharp declines in energy prices contributing to all of the decline,” said Michael Hewson, of CMC Markets in London.

“Given the surprise jump in the eurozone GDP numbers it would seem that energy prices... are (also) acting as a fiscal stimulus and helping to support the recovery,” he said.

Eurostat did not break down the growth numbers by countries, but official data in France on Friday revealed better-than-expected 0.5 percent growth for the first quarter of this year.

Spain also posted a solid reading of 0.8% for the quarter, despite an ongoing political crisis.

Overall, the eurozone economy stood at 2.48tn euros at the end of the quarter, Eurostat said.

This exceeded the pre-crisis high of 2.47tn euros reached in the first quarter of 2008. l

CORPORATE NEWS

Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) has recently held a board meeting for signing annual accounts of the year 2015, said a press release. Chairperson of BDBL, Yeasin Ali was present at the meeting along with other directors

Supersign Cables has recently introduced new cables that reduce electricity consumption, said a press release. The company’s managing director, Biplob Chand Dugar introduced the cables at PWD’s Annual Conference 2015-16 in Dhaka

| government |

19

DT

Biz Info

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2016

| fashion |

Republic of Slovenia in Dhaka

Park’s Summer 2016 Republic of Slovenia has opened its consulate in Dhaka on April 28, 2016. It was inaugurated by the Minister, Ministry of Commerce, Tofael Ahmed, MP, HE Jozef Drofenik, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in New Delhi, who is visiting Bangladesh to present his Letter of Credence to the President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Md Abdul Hamid, was also present in the ceremony as guest of honour.

Diplomats, high government

officials and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.Wahid Salam, Consul to the Republic of Slovenia in Bangladesh welcomed the guests and expressed his gratitude to all for their presence in the opening ceremony. The consular office is located at Pearl Trade Centre, 90/3 Pragoti Sharani, Dhaka.

Situated in southern, Central Europe, Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south

and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. The Capital of Slovenia is Ljubljana (Lubiana) and the country has a population of two-million. Slovenia is a young nation, which earned its independence 25 years ago and it is a member of the European Union.

The Consulate of Slovenia plans to further develop trade and commerce and bridge a much stronger relationship between Bangladesh and Slovenia. l

The Summer collection from Gentle Park guarantees to surpass the expectations of the customers, and it has been pretty apparent with time that our collections have been inspirational among the customers.

| food |

HAKKA DHAKA’s new platter

| music |

IARRT and InstruRave presents concert IARRT and InstruRave will be organising an acoustic evening filled with mellow vibes with the biggest names in the country such as, Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, Jon Kabir and the new internet sensation Emran and Jahid. The sponsor of the event is Star Line Group.

The event will be held at Chitrashala Hall, Shilpakala Acadaemy on May 5, 2016. Gates will open from 2:30pm and the show will start from 3pm. Seats are limited and the price of admission is Tk250.

This May 5, sway into Eastern fusion bends by listening to Arnob, and feel nostalgic through the waves transmitted from the

poster boy of alternative music in Bangladesh, Jon Kabir.

InstruRave and IARRT also brings you rather commendable upcoming acts currently working on their albums and EPs that are perfect for a show like this.

They also plan on bringing in hot new internet sensation, Emran and Jahid, the kids who have probably been all over your news feeds lately. This will be a rather pleasant experience for everybody attending the show. People will unwind, rejoice, rejuvenate and sway to the guitars and vocal harmonies of all the bands in the mighty Chitrashala Auditorium, which has brilliant acoustics. They guarantee to take everybody on a

‘mellow trip’.

Line up: Arnob, Jon Kabir, Emran and Jahid, Circus Police, Mukhosh, Vowels, The Aloonies.

About IARRT IARRT is a new event organising firm formed this year. IARRT is filled with enthusiastic youngsters who believe in providing quality service. The ambition of keeping this event elegant is the proof of the sheer dedication and quality service that IARRT brings to the table. IARRT has a dream, a dream that reaches higher than the beanstalk and even higher in a magical palace. As the founder, Rudan said, “There are dreamers and there are achievers. I, my friend, just woke up.” l

HAKKA DHAKA has introduced a new MEGA platter, which is now customisable. Customers can now pick their favourite items from a list of specials.

The list includes wrapped prawns, Hakka chicken wings, chicken dumplings or chicken and cheese wontons, egg fried rice, chicken Hakka noodles, Hunan chicken or chicken with mushrooms, dry chilli beef or

Mongolian beef, chilli garlic prawns or Szechuan prawn, dessert of the day, soft drinks or mineral water.

The full platter, for four people is priced at Tk4,000. The half platter, for two people is priced at Tk2,000.

Call 01616666543 (Banani) or 01616666544 (Uttara) for delivery, takeout and reservations. l

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CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Of recent time (6) 5 Drinking vessel (3) 7 Beverage (3) 8 Lower in dignity (6) 11 Spoil (3) 12 Sugared as cake (5) 14 Flat-topped hill (4) 16 Skin openings (5) 18 Golf clubs (5) 20 Nominate (4) 21 Minute particles (5) 23 Ventilate (3) 24 Increases (6) 27 High mountain (3) 28 Conclude (3) 29 Firm (6)

DOWN 1 Central (3) 2 Water shortage (3) 3 Tastefully fine (7) 4 Actual (4) 5 Photographic apparatus (6) 6 Read with care (6) 9 Water pitcher (4) 10 Short sleep (3) 13 Comfort (7) 14 Optical illusion (6) 15 Flew upwards (6) 17 Send out (4) 19 Weep convulsively (3) 22 Filled trench round castle (4) 25 Mineral spring (3) 26 Bashful (3)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 22 represents L so fill L every time the figure 22 appears.

You have two letters in the control grid to start you off. Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

As you get the letters, fill in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

A B C DE FG H I J K L MN O P Q RST UVWXYZ

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SUDOKU How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

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INSIDE

Q&A

Islamic State war in Iraq, Syria n Tribune International Desk The Indian Politics of Yoga The glittering World Cultural Festival, organised by Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AOL) organisation in New Delhi this month, had the country agog for days. The colorful threeday extravaganza, featuring yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers and cultural performances

by Indian and foreign artists, also boasted a VIP audience in attendance: top Indian politicos including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, corporate honchos and guests from across the world.

PAGE 22

Why Aleppo is Syria’s fiercest battleground As a two-month-old cease-fire collapses and peace talks stall, the northern city of Aleppo is once again a main battlefield in Syria’s devastating civil war. More than 200 people have been killed in the last nine days in airstrikes and shelling on contested neighborhoods of the city, Associated Press reports.

PAGE 23

Anti-Trump protests break out for second day in California Protests erupted in California for the second day in a row on Friday against US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is moving closer to winning the Republican nomination after a string of victories this week.

PAGE 24

Islamic State (IS) is losing battles, territory, and money in Iraq and Syria, while still expanding elsewhere. Can it be stopped? Here’s everything you need to know:

How is the war going?

The US and its allies are riding a wave of successes. In the past few months, Iraqi forces backed by American airstrikes have liberated the city of Ramadi, while Kurdish peshmerga and Yazidi fighters have retaken several northern towns.

The Pentagon says it has killed about 26,000 IS fighters altogether, cut into the group’s cash flow, and driven the terrorists out of 40% of the land the organization once controlled. The population living under IS’s brutal reign has dropped from 9 million to 6 million people.

US strikes have killed several top IS strategists, and there are reports that IS fighters are retreating wherever they’re attacked, rather than fighting as fiercely as they once did.

“We have momentum,” President Obama said, “and we intend to keep that momentum.” His administration has announced it’s launched a cyberwar against IS, and is sending more troops and arms, including American-operated Apache attack helicopters, to help Iraqi forces retake Mosul, IS’s Iraqi headquarters, later this year. About 250 US military personnel are also being sent to Syria to help coordinate the Sunni tribes battling IS there.

How many American troops are in Iraq?

The official cap is just over 4,000 troops, there to advise and train Iraqi forces. But Pentagon officials said the true number is closer to 5,000 at any given time, if you take into account soldiers on temporary assignments and those rotating in to relieve others. A large Marine force of three amphibious warships with an additional 4,500 personnel was also just deployed to the Persian Gulf. It’s far from the 150,000 American troops in Iraq during the 2003–2011 war, but a significant escalation of the 275 troops Obama sent in June 2014. And US soldiers are starting to get more involved.

The Pentagon announced last week that US advisers will now embed with Iraqi brigades, putting them close to the fighting.

Why the change?

After coming under heavy criticism for limiting US involvement, the president seems determined to make demonstrable progress

FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT IN IRAQ, SYRIA USA Assad Regime

Russia

Iran

Air and ground support

Ground support

Saudi Arabia

Qatar

Turkey

Lebanese Hezbollah Iraq Shia Militia Free syrian Army

Ground support TOW missiles

Jaish al-Islam Jabhat al-Nusra

Air strikes

Ahrar al-sham Islamic State

Air strikes

YPG

Air support

Syrian Democratic Forces

Air support air dropped weapons

Iraqi government

Air and ground support

Iraqi Kurdistan

Air and ground support

Air strikes

Ground attacks

TOW missiles

TOW missiles

Light arms

Air strikes

Ground attacks

Light arms

Light arms

Light arms

Air strikes

Ground attacks

Air strikes

Ground attacks

Light arms

Light arms

Light arms

Air strikes

Ground attacks

Air strikes

Air strikes

Air strikes/ Ground attacks Air strikes/ Ground attacks

Ground support

Orange indicates diplomatic support and Magenta indicates direct military support. On the other hand, Sky Blue indicates diplomatic opposition, and dark Yellow represents direct aggressive military action CONFLICT-NEWS against IS before his term ends. US troops are still theoretically not authorized to initiate direct combat, but that distinction is getting increasingly blurry in the steppedup campaign. US special operations forces have used raids and airstrikes to target what the Pentagon calls IS’s cabinet, assassinating the group’s finance minister, war minister, and other top officials.

US airpower has been pounding IS in Iraq and Syria, dropping more than 11,000 bombs from November through February. Much of that barrage targeted the oil fields and buildings believed to store IS’s cash.

Is IS now hurting for funds?

The losses of oil fields and territory have taken a toll. Last year, IS was raking in some $80m a month from oil smuggling, antiquities sales, and taxes. That revenue has now been cut by about 30%, US intelligence sources say. IS is reportedly paying its fighters half what they once made and rationing medical supplies. But IS is still the best-funded militant group in the world. Its leaders continue to sell oil, have piles of cash plundered from Iraqi banks, and heavily tax citizens in the areas of Syria and Iraq under their control.

How much is Iraq helping?

The Iraqi Army is more professional than it once was, but it is still hampered by the country’s political dysfunction. The Shia-dominated government of Prime Minister

Haider al-Abadi has been inept and corrupt, criticized even by fellow Shia’s. Radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr recently led thousands of followers in a sit-in at the gates of Baghdad’s Green Zone until al-Abadi agreed to fire many of his top cabinet ministers. Preoccupied by infighting, the government has failed to do any real outreach to the disgruntled Sunni tribes who have been marginalized ever since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. These angry Sunnis remain ripe for recruitment by extremists.

“IS could be defeated tomorrow,” wrote military analyst Max Boot, “and we will simply see a successor organization arise unless Sunni political grievances are addressed.”

Meanwhile, IS is seeding its fanatical, end-times ideology throughout the Muslim world, like a cancerous tumor that’s metastasising.

Where is the group spreading?

IS affiliates have sprung up in Algeria and Sudan and as far away as Pakistan and the Philippines. But the group’s main focus outside the Levant is its new stronghold in Libya, where it controls the coastal city of Sirte. Right now it has about 6,000 fighters there, including experienced militants sent by IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to run the group, and they’re fighting to take control of the oil fields in the Sirte Basin, the center of Libya’s oil industry. At the same time, IS’s sophisticated propaganda arm continues to use the internet and local sym-

pathizers to recruit Westerners as jihadists, encouraging them to carry out attacks in their home countries.

Belgian officials said last week they had evidence that IS had just sent a new wave of militants to Europe to conduct terrorist attacks. “You can defeat IS in IS-controlled territories, but you’re not going to defeat IS itself,” said analyst Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The ideology of jihadism continues to evolve.”

The new cyberwar on IS

The US has launched a cyberwar to disrupt IS’s recruiting and propaganda operations online. “We are dropping cyberbombs,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work.

The high-tech offensive is being led by the US Cyber Command, which is attempting to disrupt ISIS’s social media recruitment, block its cash transfers, and even pose as IS leaders and issue bogus commands.

That last trick has been used before.

During the Iraq war in 2006, Fred Kaplan reports this week at Slate, the US hacked into insurgents’ online and cellphone communications and used leaders’ names to order fighters to meet at a certain time and place, where they were destroyed by special operations soldiers. About 4,000 Iraqi insurgents were killed this way, Kaplan says, “and command and control fell apart.” l

[This is an excerpt of a The Week article, which can be found at http:// bit.ly/1WZu4tF]

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The Indian Politics of Yoga n Tribune International Desk

The glittering World Cultural Festival, organised by Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AOL) organisation in New Delhi last month, had the country agog for days. The colorful threeday extravaganza, featuring yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers and cultural performances

by Indian and foreign artists, also boasted a VIP audience in attendance: top Indian politicos including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, corporate honchos and guests from across the world.

From a seven-acre stage set up for more than 35,000 artistes and visitors from 150 countries to a slew of temporary bridges, ramps, mobile towers and parking areas built over a 1,000-acre area on the banks of the holy river Yamuna, the festival had it all. Modi’s ruling rightwing Bhartiya Janata Party government also pitched in with exclusive military services to help AOL build two pontoon bridges on the river for the function.

AOL was also given prompt clearances to host the jamboree by the environmental body – the National Green Tribunal – despite the latter noting in its report that the “flood plains have been drastically tampered with, the natural flow of the river has been destroyed and reeds, grasses and natural vegetation on the river bed have been removed.”

Such was the hype around the event, that a strident chorus from environmentalists and activists over the ecological harm caused to the Yamuna by the event, was ignored by the government. As were the Opposition parties’ objections to the government actively promoting such events and supporting Sri Sri Ravishankar. An environmental damage penalty of $750,000, imposed on AOL for ravaging an ecologically fragile region, had Sri Sri declaring defiantly “We’ll go to jail but not pay the fine. We have done nothing wrong.” The matter was ultimately settled after much hullabaloo with AOL coughing up a tiny fraction of the imposed fine.

has always enjoyed state support.

Observers brand this new and emerging trend of increasing state support for gurus as “crony spiritualism.” This phenomenon, the claim, involves the enmeshing of political, business and spiritual interests to further narrow political and business interests. Academics analyze the nascent phenomenon similarly. Dr. Amitabh Jahgirdar, assistant professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, explained, “Most popular gurus have a huge fan following across the spectrum – from the masses to the upper elite class. So it works well for the political class to leverage this large demographic as a vote-bank by supporting them.

The World Cultural Festival by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar best demonstrates the rise of this phenomenon.”

Yet not long ago, when Modi took over the top job in 2014, his effusive endorsement of yoga and spirituality – as a physical exercise and well-being regimen – found a great resonance with the nation. The prime minister threw his weight behind yoga, and India’s traditional systems of medicine by making the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) a full-fledged ministry and showcasing it as the focal point of his health campaigns. Among the ministry’s stated goals was “promotion of the rich, centuries-old Indian heritage of medical and health sciences.”

Modi, 65, also persuaded the United Nations to declare June 21 International Day of Yoga – the first of which was celebrated last year in New Delhi with a mega yoga event. On an overcast Sunday, over 35,000 men, women – many drawn from the Army and national cadet corps – and children practiced a series of 21 yoga postures, on a 2.4km stretch of boulevard and lawns in central Delhi.

Regressive measures

So far so good. Soon after, howev-

Participants perform at the World Culture Festival in New Delhi on March 11 er, the narrative began to change from an emphasis on promoting yogic disciplines among the masses to regressive measures like state support for gurus and the Modi government’s directives to make yoga compulsory in schools and other academic institutes. For many, especially religious minorities, these measures were hard to accept.

While the BJP government’s efforts to seize on yoga has the chests of Hindu nationalists swelling with pride, others are clearly discomfited at these new developments.

Muslim organizations in particular have objected to the Surya Namaskar (a set of yoga exercises), which requires a person to bow to the Sun God. Points out Amina Begum, a mother of two school-going girls based in New Delhi, “Islam being a monotheistic religion doesn’t allow followers to bow before anyone except Allah. We don’t like our kids following this routine in their schools. Surely, there are other neutral forms of exercises which can benefit children?”

BJP propping up a spiritual guru

Nor was this the first episode of the BJP government propping up a spiritual guru. The government’s support for yoga teacher Baba Ramdev, who is credited with popularizing yoga on a mass scale, has been fodder for the critics’ mill for years. From quick land clearances to expand the pan-India footprint of Ramdev’s organization Patanjali Yogpeeth – which hawks everything from herbal medicines to toothpastes to condominiums – to allotting prime space in government retail shops for displaying Patanjali’s consumer goods for sale, Ramdev

Many others feel that the imposition is tantamount to curbing personal freedoms. “Instead of making yoga compulsory, the decision should be left to individual school managements, parents and individuals about what form of exercise they’d like to adhere to.

This should be a matter of personal choice, not State imposition,” Dr. Pradeep Katkate, former principal of a government-run school in New Delhi, said.

Each time the issue crops up, however, the BJP government is quick to point to the fact that 47 Muslim nations supported Modi’s UN resolution to make yoga global.

So why should the minorities object to its promotion back home?

“In his United Nations address last year, even UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said that yoga promotes physical and spiritual health and well-being. He described it as an invaluable gift of ancient Indian tradition, rather than “Hindu” tradition,” explained a senior BJP functionary. “So what’s the fuss all about?”

Several schools across India already offer voluntary yoga sessions to kids in primary and secondary schools. However, the inclusion of the exercise in the curriculum leaves no choice for all schools but to follow suit. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat have already announced their plans to add yoga to school curricula. Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh followed soon after. The southern state of Andhra Pradesh has also announced a grant of about $4.5m for regular yoga events.

What’s the Opposition said?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

REUTERS

India’s Opposition parties have also objected to the alleged “sheer hollowness” of the government’s claim that is promoting yoga for its health

REUTERS

benefits, while questioning the slashing of the health budget by 17% and reducing the budget allocation for yoga from about $200m in 201314 to a meager $50m in the Ministry of AYUSH (the government body charged with developing ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy) this year.

However, Modi’s supporters emphasize that his efforts to promote yoga and its renowned practitioners, needs to be seen from the perspective of the prime minister emphasizing India’s role on the world stage from a more cultural standpoint. Says an in the Washington University Political Review, “India does not have the same global cachet within foreign affairs as other countries, and so Modi has been utilising India’s soft power potential to make up for a relatively small arsenal diplomatic firepower. Yoga offers the opportunity for Modi to revitalize India as a vishwa guru, or guru of the world…” The article concludes that “Modi’s creative use of India’s cultural heritage should be applauded for the unprecedented way in which it fortifies a relationship between soft power potential and foreign policy.”

Be that as it may, there’s no denying that the ancient discipline of yoga, practiced by seers and sages for millennia across India, has worked as a double-edged sword for Modi. While it has won him some points abroad, at home the initiative remains fraught, one that has alienated a segment of people who object to “Hindu traditions” being foisted on them. Such developments clearly sit uneasily with the secular and liberal credentials of the world’s largest democracy. l

[This is an excerpt of a The Diplomat article, which can be found at http://bit. ly/1RUlc5c]

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Why Aleppo is Syria’s fiercest battleground n Tribune International Desk

Crisis in Syria: The battle for Aleppo

As a two-month-old cease-fire collapses and peace talks stall, the northern city of Aleppo is once again a main battlefield in Syria’s devastating civil war. More than 200 people have been killed in the last nine days in airstrikes and shelling on contested neighborhoods of the city, Associated Press reports.

A look at Aleppo:

A divided city Kilis

Azaz

Afrin

Bab al-Salama

Menagh airbase

Deir Jamal

History

Syria’s largest city and once its commercial center, Aleppo was a crossroads of civilization for millennia. It has been occupied by the Greeks, Byzantines and multiple Islamic dynasties. As one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, Aleppo’s Old City was added in 1986 to Unesco’s list of World Heritage sites.

But the civil war has damaged its landmarks, including the 11th century Umayyad Mosque, which had a minaret collapse during fighting in 2012, the 13th century citadel and the medieval marketplace, where fire damaged more than 500 shops in its narrow, vaulted passageways. Some historic sites have been used as bases for fighters.

Aleppo was one of the last cit-

It would also be catastrophic for tens of thousands of civilians still living there.

TURKEY

Territorial control Regime Rebels

Marea Tall Rifaat

Kurds IS group Disputed

SYRIA

Aleppo Sources: OSDH, UN, AFP

10 km

ies in Syria to join the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s government.

Significance

Because of its strategic location near the Turkish border and symbolic significance, it is often said that whoever holds Aleppo wins the war. Although it would probably not end the war, should Assad’s forces recapture Aleppo, it

would mark a turning point in the conflict and deal a devastating blow to the opposition.

Aleppo is about 50km from the Turkish border, and Ankara enjoys wide influence in northern Syria. Most of the rebels’ supplies flow across the Turkish border.

If the government succeeds in completely blockading the city, it would choke off the rebels and potentially force their surrender.

A number of insurgent groups control several neighborhoods of the city, which has been rocked by airstrikes and is being attacked from the west, south and east by government forces. The only rebel supply line is a corridor that links the city with northern parts of the province leading to the Turkish border.

Government forces and their allies control most of the eastern neighborhoods as well as the international airport and the nearby Nairab air base.

Militants from the Islamic State group used to control several neighborhoods in Aleppo, but they were forced out by other rebels in early 2014.

The main Kurdish militia, known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, controls several predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods.

The main insurgent groups in the city are the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group; the Nour el-Din Zengi; the Tawhid Brigade; and the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria. Smaller groups also are involved in the fighting. l

Rouhani allies win Iran parliament Russia defends intercept of US elections intelligence plane over Baltic n AFP, Tehran Reformist and moderate Iranian politicians allied with President Hassan Rouhani won a big victory in second round parliamentary elections and capped a remarkable comeback Saturday after years of isolation.

The outcome represents a significant realignment of competing factions in the Islamic republic, with conservative MPs losing their dominance and being outnumbered for the first time since 2004.

Official results also showed 17 women were elected - 8 more than at present and the highest female representation since the country’s revolution in 1979.

Almost a quarter of parliament’s seats were at stake in run-offs Friday in what was a showdown between reformists and conservatives seeking to influence the country’s future.

Although Iran’s parliament has marginal powers - under the country’s theocratic rule clerics can veto legislation - the result will help the

government deliver economic reforms such as a new oil contracts law that could tempt foreign majors. It could also speed up social change demanded by reformists.

That verdict should make Rouhani’s job easier.

Iran does not have rigid party affiliations, making election outcomes notoriously opaque. Some candidates were backed by both camps and others stood as independents.

But of the 68 seats that were contested Friday, 38 went to the pro-Rouhani List of Hope coalition, 18 to conservatives and 12 to independents, according to final results published by the interior ministry.

That gives reformists 133 seats in the new 290-member parliament, 13 shy of a majority but more than their rivals’ 125 MPs. Remaining seats went to independents and minorities who could hold the balance of power.

The second ballot on Friday was needed because no candidate won the minimum 25% required in the first round. l

n Reuters Russia said on Saturday it had sent a fighter plane on Friday to intercept a US aircraft approaching its border over the Baltic Sea because the American plane had turned off its transponder, which is needed for identification.

The Pentagon said the US Air Force RC-135 plane had been flying a routine route in international airspace and that the Russian SU-27 fighter had intercepted it in an “unsafe and unprofessional” way.

CNN reported that the Russian jet had come within about 100 feet of the US plane and had performed a barrel roll.

The Russian Defense Ministry Saturday defended a Su-27’s barrel roll over a US spy plane in the Baltic Sea, saying the American jet had turned off its transponder and it wasn’t identifiable.

“All flights of Russian planes are conducted in accordance with international regulations

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on the use of airspace,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

“The US Air Force has two solutions: either not to fly near our borders or to turn the transponder on for identification.”

Friday’s incident underlines rising tensions between Russia and US over eastern Europe.

Nato has said it plans its biggest build-up in the region since the Cold War to counter what the it considers to be a more aggressive Russia.

The Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which joined Nato in 2004, have requested higher and permanent presence of the alliance, fearing a threat from Russia after it annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

The Kremlin denies any intentions to attack the Baltic countries, but it has often said that they have become an aggressive “Russophobic kernel” pushing Nato towards a consistently anti-Russian course. l

SOUTH ASIA

Afghan forces launch push against Taliban Government forces have launched operations against the Taliban in 18 provinces of Afghanistan as fighting has intensified since the start of the insurgents’ spring offensive this month, the ministry of defence said on Saturday. The operations, backed by air power and artillery have been concentrated in areas where the Taliban insurgents have been aggressively challenging government forces.

-REUTERS

INDIA

Three killed in Mumbai building collapse 3 people were reported dead, and four others injured when a three-storey residential building collapsed in South Central Mumbai on Saturday afternoon. According to the Disaster Management Cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the collapse occurred at noon when the Pathar building collapsed like a pack of cards, trapping several people in the debris.

-THE HINDU

CHINA

China denies US aircraft carrier port visit China has denied a request for a US carrier strike group led by the USS John C Stennis to visit to Hong Kong, the US Defense Department said on Friday, amid heightened tensions over China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said the request for the Hong Kong visit by the carrier and its accompanying vessels was recently denied. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Japan, China more upbeat on ties Japan and China both expressed a willingness to improve strained relations on Saturday after a rare meeting between their two foreign ministers in Beijing, though China said Japan should stop pushing the notion that China is a threat. Meeting at a state guest house, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida ties had fallen to a low ebb.

-REUTERS

MIDDLE EAST

Protesters storm parliament in Iraq’s Green Zone Thousands of angry protesters broke into Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Saturday and stormed the Iraqi parliament building after lawmakers again failed to approve new ministers.

Jubilant supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr invaded the main session hall. The Iraqi capital was already on high alert for a major Shia pilgrimage, participants in which were targeted in a bombing that killed 23 on Saturday.

-AFP

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USA

US puts Germany, China on watch list for large trade surpluses US named Germany, China and three other East Asian countries on Friday to a new monitoring list of trade partners with excessive current account and trade surpluses. Taiwan, South Korea and Japan were also on a new watchlist of the US Treasury that points out countries that Washington suspects are behaving unfairly to support their economies.

-AFP

THE AMERICAS

Protesting Venezuela opposition leader attacked Supporters of Venezuela’s socialist government attacked a senior opposition leader with fists and stones Friday when he was demonstrating against the country’s emergency power cuts. A group of men punched and threw objects at Jesus Torrealba, the burly bald-headed leader of the opposition MUD coalition. He fled as his companions brawled with the attackers.

-AFP

UK

Britain’s Labour Party launches anti-semitism inquiry Britain’s opposition Labour party has launched an inquiry into how to tackle anti-semitism after suspending former London mayor Ken Livingstone days before it contests elections in London, Scotland and Wales. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement late on Friday that he would propose a new code of conduct explicitly banning anti-semitism and other forms of racism.

-REUTERS

EUROPE

Hundreds detained after clashes at German AfD party congress Hundreds of protesters have been arrested outside a conference of the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) after attempting to block the entrance to the event. Around 400 people were detained outside the venue where up to 2,000 AfD members are expected to pass an explicitly anti-Islam manifesto. -THE GUARDIAN

AFRICA

Jacob Zuma to face 783 criminal charges President Jacob Zuma faced the possible humiliation of a criminal trial on Friday when South Africa’s High Court declared that he “should” be charged with 783 counts of alleged corruption, fraud and racketeering.

The ruling delivered another blow Zuma, who was the target of the first impeachment motion in South Africa’s history earlier this month after being found guilty. -TELEGRAPH

Anti-Trump protests break out for second day in California Burlingame, n Reuters, California Protests erupted in California for the second day in a row on Friday against US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is moving closer to winning the Republican nomination after a string of victories this week.

The billionaire businessman was forced to halt his motorcade and go through a back entrance to a hotel to give a speech to the California Republican convention and avoid several hundred loud protestors gathered outside.

Demonstrators, some of whom held Mexican national flags, at one point rushed security gates at the hotel and police officers had their batons out.

The mogul had already drawn protests in California, with chaotic scenes on Thursday outside a Trump rally in Costa Mesa. Anti-Trump protesters smashed the window of a police car and blocked traffic. Some 20 people were arrested.

Protests have become common outside rallies for Trump who has earned ardent critics, as well as support from Repub-

lican voters, for his rhetoric against illegal immigration. His campaign abandoned a rally in Chicago last month after clashes between his supporters and protesters.

He has accused Mexico of sending drug dealers and rapists across the US border and has promised to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it.

Trump, who described himself this week as the party’s presumptive nominee, would take a large stride toward knocking his Republican rivals out of the presidential race if he wins the Indiana primary next week.

On Friday, he said he is approaching the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

Trump, who has run as a political outsider and only recently started making inroads with the Republican establishment, called for the party to band together behind him. But said he could win the White House without them if needed.

“There should be and there has to be unity. Now with that being said, would I win, can I win without it? I think so, to be honest,” Trump told the convention. His speech drew applause, though not the fervent reception of his usual campaign rallies.

Protesters push over a barricade as they demonstrate against Donald Trump at the California GOP convention in Burlingame REUTERS

Indiana fight

Trump’s main rival, Senator Ted Cruz, on Friday picked up the backing of Governor Mike Pence of Indiana in a rearguard battle to damage Trump’s chances.

Cruz, from Texas, is trailing the former reality TV star in the Midwestern state after losing to him by a wide margin in all five Northeastern states that held nominating contests on Tuesday.

A CBS poll earlier this week found Trump with about 40 percent of support in Indiana, compared to 35 percent for Cruz.

The poll had a margin of error of 6.6 points. Other polls have also

shown Trump ahead.

The Republican front-runner was in California ahead of its June 7 primary, when the most convention delegates of the Republican nominating cycle will be at stake.

After his speech, Trump made a similarly unconventional exit out of the hotel via the back door.

Cheryl McDonald, 71, of Discovery Bay, said she had to pass through protesters to get inside the hotel. Ohio Governor John Kasich, a distant third in the race for the party’s nomination, distanced himself from what he said was a divisive campaign that preyed on voters’ fears. l

FACTBOX

Britain and Brexit: What the rest of the world says n Reuters, London

Us republican presidential candidate Donald Trump

It will be up to British voters on June 23 to decide whether the country stays in the European Union, but international bodies and foreign leaders have joined the debate, mostly to urge the country not to the leave the bloc.

Below is a summary of comments ranging from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund to China’s premier.

The Republican front-runner for the White House said on March 24 that Britons would probably decide to leave the EU because of concerns about high levels of migration. “With the craziness that is going on with the migration, with people pouring in all over the place, I think that Britain will end up separating from the EU,” he said.

Us president Barack Obama Obama told Britain on April 22 that it would go to “the back of the queue” for trade talks with Washington if it left the EU. He combined the blunt warning with praise for Britain’s influence within the 28-nation bloc, something Washington considered important to its own interests.

US Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton also wants Britain to stay in the EU.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble Schaeuble said on March 3 that it would be extremely difficult or even impossible for Britain to negotiate a “special deal” on trade with the EU if it left the bloc. “Imagine the negotiations that would have to take place after a Brexit decision. For the years to come all this bureaucratic stuff. Good luck!” he said.

International Monetary Fund The global economy watchdog made an unusual incursion into a national

political issue on April 12 when it said a Brexit could “do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships.”

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development The OECD said Britons would face a “Brexit tax” if they left the EU, equivalent to a month’s salary by 2020, given the likely hit to the economy.

Its secretary general urged Britons to think carefully about how they would fare outside the 28-country bloc.

“Britain, look at yourself in the mirror, naked. Do you like what you see?

Mostly I hope you come out saying: not too much,” Angel Gurria said.

Chinese premier Xi Jinping China, which is sensitive to comments from abroad and usually does not talk about other countries’ domestic affairs, issued a veiled call on Britain to stay in the EU when its leader Xi Jinping visited the country in October. “China hopes to see a prosperous Europe and a united EU, and hopes

Britain, as an important member of the EU, can play an even more positive and constructive role in promoting the deepening development of China-EU ties,” Xi said.

Group of 20 economies Finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 of the world’s leading economies put Brexit on their list of dangers to the world economy when they met in February. G20 officials said Brexit was added on the insistence of Britain.

Silent so far Supporters of Britain remaining in the EU have said that a decision to split the bloc would be welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a weakening of the West. So far, Putin has not commented on the Brexit debate.

“Russia is being dragged into the domestic debate on Brexit,” the Russian embassy in London said in a statement in March. “Why is the wicked Russia thesis used to explain a government policy?” l

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Polls filled with vigour

INSIDE

n Mazhar Uddin Prime Doleshwar go atop in style A disciplined bowling performance guided Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club to a comprehensive eightwicket win over Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in Fatullah's Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium yesterday. PAGE 26

(L-R) Bangladesh Football Federation vice president Kazi Nabil Ahmed, delegate and Bandarban MP Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing, senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy and president Kazi Salahuddin are all smiles following the BFF election yesterday BFF

Viv slams ICC for double standards Sir Vivian Richards lashed out at the ICC for its official reprimand of West Indies. A furious Richards said that the governing body had one rule for Darren Sammy’s side and another for the Indian cricket team. PAGE 27

Van Gaal ready to delay Leicester party Louis van Gaal is determined to stop Leicester from winning the EPL title today but the Man Utd manager expects that even if his side stop the Foxes from celebrating on Sunday, the champagne will merely be on ice. PAGE 28

Safarova beats Stosur to win Prague Open Lucie Safarova won her first title of the year by defeating Samantha Stosur of Australia 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on clay in the Prague Open final yesterday. Ranked 16th in the world, Safarova defeated fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova to get into the final. PAGE 29

Big win for Salahuddin

Nabil among 3 Vice-Presidents re-elected Mohi, the Brothers Union genposts as Kazi Nabil Ahmed and n Shishir Hoque eral secretary, clinched 72 votes Badal Roy were re-elected for the Kazi Salahuddin will run the Bangladesh Football Federation for four more years after his Combined Panel dominated the 2016 election yesterday. He has been re-elected as the BFF president for the third successive time with a 33-vote victory over Save Football Panel’s Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton.

Salahuddin earned 83 votes against Poton’s 50. The two other contestants for the post, Golam Rabbani Helal and Nurul Islam Nuru, unofficially withdrew before the election.

Salahuddin didn’t face the media after winning the contest. A BFF official recorded his reaction where he said, “It’s the victory of truth and football as well. Absolutely. The football and truth will always win. If you work there will be criticism and if you don’t work there will not be any. What will I do and what people want to see, I will tell it later. I just won the election.”

The Combined Panel also won three out of four vice-president

third time in a row while Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi was elected for the first time as vice-president.

Tabith Awal, an independent candidate, also retained his post as vice-president.

Nabil, acting director in-charge of Abahani Limited and Jessore-3 MP, won the highest number of votes for vice-president posts with 92 to his name, nineteen more than second-placed Badal Roy who earned 73. Nabil also got seven more votes than the three Save Football candidates – Nazib Ahmed, Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu and Khurshid Alam Babul – combined.

Badal expressed gratitude to the delegates for electing him as vice-president for the third time.

“The delegates kept their faith in us and increased our responsibility. It’s a big responsibility.

There have been many discussions and criticism. Now we want to rectify our mistakes and continue our work on taking football ahead,” he said.

while there was a stiff contest for the fourth spot between Tabith and Shamsul Haq Chowdhury, the only Combined Panel candidate not to have won. Tabith got out of the danger zone again with 66 votes and Shamsul finished fifth with 58 votes.

This is the first time in the last three BFF elections that hundred percent delegates or voters were present on the election as all 134 delegates cast their votes while only one ballot paper was cancelled.

The Radisson Blu Garden was full of councillors, supporters of two panels from the morning.

The AGM started at 11:30am after which the voting began at 2:45pm.

The news of Salahuddin’s victory came out first, around 15 minutes after voting was completed.

Salahuddin was elected as BFF boss for the first time in 2008 when he beat Maj Gen (retd.) Amin Ahmed Chowdhury by 13 votes.

He was elected unopposed in the 2012 election. l

BFF ELECTION

COMBINED PANEL

SAVE FOOTBALL PANEL

PRESIDENT POLL

Kazi Salahuddin 83

Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton 50

VICE-PRESIDENT POLL

Kazi Nabil Ahmed 92 Badal Roy 73 Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi 72 Shamsul Haq Chowdhury 58

Mominul Haque Sayeed 53 Nazib Ahmed 38 Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu 24 Khurshid Alam Babul 23

INDEPENDENT Tabith Awal 66 Maruf Hasan 33

EXECUTIVE MEMBERS Shawkat Ali Khan Jahangir 114, Amirul Islam Babu 105, Harunur Rashid 94, Ilias Hossain 85, Satyajit Das Rupu 85, Bijon Barua 84, Iqbal Hossain 84, Fazlur Rahman Babul 83, Arif Hossain Moon 82, Amit Khan Shuvra 81, Mohiuddin Selim 78, Zakir Hossain 78, Abdur Rahim 70, Sheikh Mohammad Aslam 68, Mahfuza Akter Kiron 68

The BFF election was hyped to be a massive event throughout yesterday but 15 minutes after the votes were closed at 5:00pm, the Radisson hotel wore a different look.

Kazi Salahuddin was announced winner which cued celebration for his supporters, hitherto outnumbered by the “Save Football Panel” supporters.

The voting zone was made exclusive to the 134 delegates who held the voting rights. It was closed off for the huge media contingent, who were initially kept waiting outside the hotel. News filtered through, as it does in such events, that all 134 allocated votes has been cast by closing time. Tension among both parties peaked as all eyes were fixed towards the voting zone.

Suddenly, Salahuddin’s daughter Kazi Sarajin screamed out, “It is football’s victory”. Soon, confirmation came that the first superstar of Bangladesh football has won the 2016 election of football’s governing body in Bangladesh, and will have a third stint as the BFF president, having first won in 2008 and elected unopposed in 2012.

On the other hand, Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton was predictably disappointed after the result was announced. But to his credit, his first reaction was to gracefully accept the result.

He said he will work for the development of football if the BFF wants, a surprising statement from the man who just lost a high-profile election.

For a first-timer covering the election of a sporting body, there was much excitement while approaching the hotel.

But the high security meant that journalists couldn’t have easy access. This reporter needed help from others to enter the hotel lobby, which was mostly filled by “Save Football Panel” supporters and a lesser number of supporters from Salahuddin’s “Combined Panel”.

Among those backing the “Save Football Panel” was BCB directors like Ismail Haider Mallick and Sheikh Sohel as their cricket colleagues like Monjur Kader, Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan and Nazib Ahmed were key figures in the football election.

But Salahuddin and three of his trusted partners ruled the polls, which reflected the level of interest within football organisers. And now begins the wait for the elected body to show their worth, for another four years. l

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Prime Doleshwar go atop in style n Tribune Desk A disciplined bowling performance guided Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in Fatullah yesterday. The loss comes on the back of Sheikh Jamal’s four-wicket victory against Abahani Limited in the previous round.

In the other matches of the day, Abahani registered a nervy two-wicket win over Brothers Union at BKSP 3 ground while Prime Bank Cricket Club posted a 47-run victory against Kalabagan Krira Chakra in Mirpur.

Prime Doleshwar v Sheikh Jamal

Prime Doleshwar cruised to the top of the points table after a convincing win against Sheikh Jamal.

Prime Doleshwar are unbeaten in three games.

Medium-pacer Farhad Reza picked up four wickets after Sheikh Jamal were asked to bat.

They were bowled out for 99 runs in 27.1 overs.

Farhad took the wickets of Joyraj Sheikh, Nazmus Sadat, Mahmudullah and Sohag Gazi while left-arm spinner Sanjamul Islam took three wickets. Al Amin Hossain contributed with two early wickets.

Angelo Perera (33) and Mahmudullah (24) were the only batsmen to manage a double-digit score.

Off-spinner Gazi removed Imtiaz Hossain off the first ball but Prime Doleshwar romped to the target in 20.1 overs. Raqibul Hasan (53*) and Chamara Silva (27*) shared an unbeaten 65-run partnership.

Abahani v Brothers Union

Saqlain Sajib’s six and four in the last over steered Abahani to an exciting win over Brothers Union.

He was involved in the match-winning 31-run unbroken ninth wicket stand with Jubair Hossain after Abahani were reduced to 217 for 8 in the 48th over.

Saqlain and Jubair, the unlikely batting heroes as both are genuine tail-enders, were unbeaten on 20 and 19 respectively. Jubair had struck two fours and a six in his 10-ball stay. Before this pair, it was Uday Kaul who top-scored with 59 and Mosaddek Hossain contributed 47 to their 245-run chase.

Earlier, Jubair also took four wickets as Brothers Union suffered

a batting collapse that saw them slip to 6 for 149 after cruising on 1 for 128. Taskin Ahmed also took two wickets. Imrul Kayes made 69 off 82 balls with seven fours and a six.

Prime Bank v Kalabagan KC

Prime Bank captain Shuvagata Hom put on an all-round show to help his side to victory over Kalabagan.

He top-scored with a 54-ball 60 that had six fours and two sixes as Prime Bank posted 280 in 48.4 overs. Sabbir Rahman and Taibur Rahman also struck fifties while the Kalabagan captain Mashrafe Mortaza, suffering from high fever, took 4 for 56 in his 10 overs.

Kalabagan began well in the chase with openers Shadman Islam

and Jasimuddin adding 79 for the first wicket but both were trapped leg-before by left-arm spinner Monir Hossain in the 17th over.

Mehrab Hossain Jr and Hamilton Masakadza added 64 for the third wicket before Shuvagata brilliantly caught Mehrab at short midwicket after the left-handed batsman tried to chip one over his head. But Shuvagata leapt high and kept the ball in play before turning and completing the catch.

When Masakadza fell after making 61 off 72 balls, Kalabagan’s hopes ended and they folded for 233 runs in 45.4 overs. Left-arm spinner Raihan Uddin took four wickets while Rubel Hossain, Shuvagata and Monir took two each. l

BRIEF SCORES SHEIKH JAMAL DC 99 (Farhad 4/20, Sanjamul 3/24, Al Amin 2/25) lost to PRIME DOLESHWAR SC 101/2 (Raqibul 53*, Silva 27*, Rony 17) by eight wickets BROTHERS UNION 244/9 (Kayes 69, Jubair 4/44, Taskin 2/45) lost to ABAHANI LIMITED 248/8 (Kaul 59, Mosaddek 47, Nur 2/29) by two wickets PRIME BANK CC 280 (Shuvagata 60, Sabbir 53, Taibur 52) beat KALABAGAN KC 233 (Masakadza 61, Shadman 45, Raihan 4/38) by 47 runs

Kalabagan Krira Chakra captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza in action during their Dhaka Premier League match against Prime Bank Cricket Club in Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

BFF’s audit report, draft budget released U-14 girls on verge of glory n Tribune Report The audit report of the Bangladesh Football Federation for the 2015-16 season was approved in the Annual General Meeting which was held just prior to the BFF election yesterday.

The draft budget was also passed at the AGM which began half an hour later than the scheduled time.

The BFF’s total income in 2015 was Tk 309,987,555 while the expendi-

ture was Tk 337,455,781.

“The audit report and draft budget were approved in the presence of all the delegates. The draft budget for the upcoming season has been set around Tk 30 crore. There were a few observations in the AGM but no disagreements took place,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, who was recently re-elected senior vice president for the third time in succession, following the AGM. An amount of around Tk 8 crore

was taken from a private bank – IFIC Bank – as fixed loan in order to organise an international friendly between Argentina and Nigeria in 2011. The loan is still outstanding and some councillors recently brought the issue to attention.

Regarding the loan issue, Murshedy said, “The sponsors took the loan and they are responsible for this. The sponsors will balance the loan, which is fixed, and without any interest.” l

n Tribune Report Reigning champions Bangladesh coasted to the grand finale of the AFC Under-14 Regional Girls’ Championship (south and central zone) following their crushing 9-1 win over hosts Tajikistan in the second semi-final yesterday in Dushanbe.

The girls in red and green romped to a 5-0 lead in the first half before adding four more goals after

resumption.

Tahura Khatun and Monika Chakma both bagged hattricks while Anuching Marma and Akhi scored two and a goal respectively to guide Bangladesh to the final where neighbours India lie in wait.

The final will take place today at Aviator Stadium at 5pm (Bangladesh standard time). Earlier in the group stage, Bangladesh defeated final opposition India 3-1 before thumping Nepal 9-0. l

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QUICK BYTES Poton pledges support Despite losing out in his pursuit of becoming the new Bangladesh Football Federation president, candidate Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton pledged his support for the development of Bangladesh football. Poton, who earned 50 votes among 134, is virtually an unknown name in the football arena. He graciously accepted the defeat and said, “If the BFF wants my support, I will be more than happy to provide it. I will be there hundred percent. If needed, I will work for football.”

The IPL bottle may only be half full, but there’s certainly some Fizz n Scroll.in They call him “The Fizz”. It isn’t because of any connection to an aerated soft drink, but because of what he does with the ball.

Mustafizur Rahman is a thin, wiry, unimposing young man from Bangladesh. But give him a cricket ball, and the 20-year-old turns into a snarling, dangerous entity who can make it bend, twist and curl at will.

Mustafizur was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the ongoing Indian Premier League and has proven his weight in gold thus far. In his very first match for the franchise, against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, he took out batting stalwarts AB de Villiers and Shane Watson in successive deliveries. Against the Kolkata Knight Riders in his second outing, he dispatched Andre Russell with a delivery described by commentators as “a yorker from hell”.

In six matches so far, Mustafizur has taken seven wickets at a scarcely believable average of 19.42. Nor has he allowed batsmen to take easy runs off him as demonstrated

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Crotone promoted to Serie A for first time Crotone clinched promotion to Serie A for the first time in the club’s history after Friday’s 1-1 draw with Modena in the second tier. With the top two in Serie B automatically promoted, Crotone are 13 points clear of third-place Trapani, who still have four matches to play. The league-leading Calabrians, who are coached by former Croatia international Ivan Juric, are five points clear of second-place Cagliari who also have a game in hand.

by a miserly economy rate of 6.18.

Because of his understated nature, most batsmen continue to dismiss Mustafizur as a product of hype and back themselves to take him on. Kings XI Punjab opening batsman Manan Vohra certainly felt so. When the two teams met in Hyderabad last week, Vohra gave

Mustafizur was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the ongoing IPL and has proven his weight in gold thus far him the charge on the very first ball he faced and missed by a mile.

Over the next three deliveries, Vohra barely managed to get bat on ball, utterly confounded by Mustafizur’s cutters. Finally, desperate to get to the other end, he took a suicidal run and ran himself out. The Fizz’s first over ended up being a maiden and he finished his quota of four overs conceding just nine runs while taking two wickets. l

–AFP

Viv slams ICC for double standards

I’m not dead yet, says Guardiola Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has responded to criticism of his team selection in Wednesday’s Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid by insisting he is “not dead yet”. “I am not dead yet.

We still have a match. I still have one more bullet,” Guardiola told media on Friday after Bayern lost 1-0 to Atletico in their Champions League semi-final first leg in Spain.

The Bavarians host Atletico in the return leg next Tuesday but before that they could have secured a fourth consecutive Bundesliga title with a win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach yesterday.

–AFP

Steyn replaces injured Malinga in CPL South African fast bowler Dale Steyn was Friday named as a replacement for injured Sri Lankan seamer Lasith Malinga in the Jamaica Tallawahs team to play in the Caribbean Premier League.

Steyn will be making his debut in the six-franchise Twenty20 tournament which runs from June 30-August 7. Malinga has been ruled out with a knee injury.

Despite featuring briefly in the Asia Cup, he has been unavailable since then and missed out on the World T20 and the ongoing IPL. –AFP

n Cricbuzz Sir Vivian Richards lashed out at the International Cricket Council for its official reprimand of West Indies. A furious Richards said the governing body had one rule for Darren Sammy’s side and another for the Indian cricket team.

“There are rules in the one-day game under the auspices of the ICC, like for instance the system where you go back to the third umpire and things like that,” Richards was quoted saying by the "Jamaican Observer" on Thursday (April 28).

“So, if you are the sole governing body of world cricket, then everyone should be coming under

the same umbrella. The Indians do not play certain things the ICC may have in its rules. They totally ignore that and they have been getting away with it for years,” Richards said.

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels were rather vocal while stating their woes with the West Indies Cricket Board after their World Twenty20 triumph. However, following the recently-concluded ICC Board meeting in Dubai, a statement was released by the parent body stating that the West Indies players had been “inappropriate, disrespectful and brought the event into disrepute”.

That came after the players got

overtly emotional in their celebration with shirts coming off and Samuels’s heated exchange with Ben Stokes, who bowled the final over. The ICC added that it wanted to levy charges against the side relative to its Code of Conduct.

The reprimand was not received well by Richards whose anger was apparent. “I am only trying to hit back because of what they are trying to do because of Sammy’s comments. They are trying to be a body that if you say this, it’s out of order then you’re going to be this and you’re going to be that.

“When you look around the world in terms of the governance of the ICC, there are rules for some and not others,” he said.l

The former and current players of Ankur Cricketers pose for a group photograph following their friendly get-together game at BKSP in Savar yesterday.

Former national captain Mohammad Ashraful starred with the willow, making 90 runs COURTESY

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Townsend lifts Toon, Defoe saves Wearsiders n AFP, London Andros Townsend scored a stunning free-kick as Newcastle United edged Crystal Palace 1-0 yesterday and escaped the Premier League relegation zone at the expense of northeast rivals Sunderland.

Townsend netted with a sensational shot in the 58th minute and with Karl Darlow saving a penalty from ex-Newcastle player Yohan Cabaye, Rafael Benitez's team claimed a potentially vital win.

Jermain Defoe scored a stoppage-time penalty to rescue a 1-1

RESULTS Everton

2-1

Cleverley 7, Baines 64

Newcastle

1-0

Bournemouth Pugh 9

Crystal Palace

Townsend 58

Stoke City

1-1

Arnautovic 50

Watford

3-2

Abdi 45+2, Deeney 90, 90+3

West Brom

Sunderland Defoe – 90+4 – P

Aston Villa Clark 28, Ayew 48

0-3

West Ham

Kouyate 34, Noble 45+2, 79

draw at Stoke City for Sunderland and although Sam Allardyce's side were left a point behind Newcastle in the bottom three, they retain a game in hand.

Elsewhere, West Ham United captain Mark Noble scored twice for the second game in succession as his side won 3-0 at West Bromwich Albion to replace Manchester United in fifth place.

Dimitri Payet crossed for Cheikhou Kouyate to head West Ham in front in the 34th minute. Kouyate set up Noble for his first goal before Andy Carroll crossed for the Englishman to volley in his second.

Leighton Baines scored the winner as Everton prevailed 2-1 at home to Bournemouth, after Tom Cleverley's seventh-minute opener for the hosts had been swiftly cancelled out by Marc Pugh's deflected strike.

Meanwhile, skipper Troy Deeney scored a last-gasp brace as Watford twice came from behind to inflict a 3-2 defeat on already-relegated Aston Villa.

Villa led twice, through Ciaran Clark and Jordan Ayew, but Almen Abdi cancelled out Clark's opener. l

Sunderland's English forward Jermain Defoe (C) scores the equalising goal during their English Premier League match against Stoke City at Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, central England yesterday AFP

Van Gaal ready to delay Leicester party n AFP, Manchester Louis van Gaal is determined to stop Leicester City from winning the Premier League title at Old Trafford on Sunday.

But the Manchester United manager expects that even if his side tops the Foxes from celebrating on Sunday, the champagne will merely be on ice temporarily, with Leicester’s coronation as champions to come in the following few days.

Leicester will become the most

unlikely title winners in Premier League history if Claudio Ranieri’s side secures victory at United.

But van Gaal’s team need the points themselves as they try to secure Champions League football for next season.

And so the Dutch manager would rather Leicester be reliant on second-placed Tottenham Hotspur losing at Chelsea on Monday or beating Everton themselves next Saturday to guarantee their historic triumph.

“We have to beat them (Leices-

ter) because we are still in the race for fourth position,” van Gaal said Friday. “We cannot allow them to be champions this weekend at Old Trafford.

“They shall be champions a week later. We don’t spoil the party, only postpone it a little bit.

“I was the first to say they could be champions. For me it’s no surprise. I’ve seen it many times. I believe in team building and this manager (Claudio Ranieri) has done that with his team.

“Of course they had the circum-

stances with the same team and they didn’t play as many matches as other teams in the Premier League (because of a lack of European commitments), so it’s always possible.

“It’s good for the Premier League and the sport of football that it’s not always the same teams (winning the title),” van Gaal said.

United are a distant 17 points behind champions-elect Leicester but van Gaal believes they can still finish the season on a high, with an FA Cup final against Crystal Palace

to come next month and the opportunity to bridge a five-point gap on Manchester City and Arsenal, who occupy third and fourth positions in the Premier League respectively and are still to play each other.

“We are fighting for the Champions League and still in the FA Cup,” said van Gaal. “We have to fight for something and we shall do it. Hopefully we can beat Leicester City.”

United last won the Premier League title in 2013 under Alex Ferguson. l

Bale winner puts Madrid on top of La Liga n AFP, Madrid Gareth Bale's thunderous header 10 minutes from time moved an under-strength Real Madrid to the top of La Liga with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Real Sociedad yesterday.

In the absence of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, Bale stood out with a brilliant individual display capped by the winner to register Madrid's 10th straight La Liga win.

Victory moves Real two points clear of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, who were in action against

Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano respectively later yesterday.

"I am happy for him because he has had problems this season with injury, but when is fit you notice," Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane said of Bale.

"We could have scored earlier in the first-half, but we had to work until the end against a difficult side.

"I am happy with the performance and to get three points once again."

As well as the absent Ronaldo and Benzema, Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane rested Marcelo, Dani

Carvajal and Toni Kroos with one eye on the return leg of their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City on Wednesday.

Without the other two members of Madrid's star “BBC” frontline, Bale was charged with finding the goals and the Welshman did everything but score in a fine firsthalf display.

Bale pulled his first effort wide on his weaker right foot before James Rodriguez wasted the chance to open the scoring on a rare start in recent months as Geronimo Rulli turned away the Colombian's

effort at his near post.

Madrid then began to show their power from set-pieces as captain Sergio Ramos and Bale saw headers fly just wide from corners before another powerful Bale header from Rodriguez's inch-perfect cross also fell just the wrong side of the post as Madrid completely dominated the hosts before the break.

The visitors continued to press after the break, but Rulli looked set to end their title hopes as the Argentine made brilliant save to deny Bale from another fine Rodriguez cross. l

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Redknapp joins A-League Mariners as consultant n AFP, Sydney

Ibrahimovic leads PSG to rout of Rennes with double n Reuters

Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp will work with Australian side Central Coast Mariners as a recruitment consultant next season while helping promote the club overseas.

The announcement was made by the A-League team, who are based at Gosford, north of Sydney, at their end-of-season dinner on Friday evening.

“CCMFC owner Mike Charlesworth announces that Harry Redknapp will join the Mariners as a consultant,” the club tweeted.l

Paris St Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored two goals and set up another as the runaway Ligue 1 champions thrashed Stade Rennes 4-0 on a wet evening in Paris on Friday.

Four second-half goals at the Parc des Princes allowed PSG to equal their own record for the most points in a Ligue 1 season -- 89 -with two games remaining.

Ibrahimovic joined in a second-half scoring frenzy when he picked up a cross from Argentine Angel di Maria and sent it beyond the reach of goalkeeper Benoit Costil in the 54th minute.

Four minutes earlier, the Swedish striker had helped to set up Maxwell for the opening goal and Ibrahimovic scored again himself with a left-footed drive in the 78th to take his league-leading tally to 34, his best ever in a season.

Edinson Cavani added the fourth goal in injury time as PSG, who won the League Cup for the third consecutive time last weekend, all but extinguished the seventh-placed visitors’ hopes of playing in Europe next season. l

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL STAR SPORTS 1 English Premier League 5:00PM Swansea City v Liverpool 7:00PM Manchester United v Leicester City 9:30PM Southampton v Manchester City

SONY SIX 12:45AM Italian Serie A Lazio v Inter Milan

SONY ESPN 12:30AM Spanish La Liga Valencia v Villareal

CRICKET SONY SIX Indian Premier League 4:30PM Gujarat v Punjab 8:30PM Pune v Mumbai

FORMULA 1 STAR SPORTS 4 6:00PM Main Race: Russian Grand Prix

TEN 2 9:00PM French Ligue 1 2015/16 Angers v Olympic Marseille

BADMINTON TEN 1 12:00PM Asia Championship: Finals

TENNIS TEN 3 5:30PM ATP: BMW Open - Final

Paris Saint-Germain's Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L) shoots to score during their French L1 match against Rennes at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on Friday AFP

Murray insists Djokovic can be beaten n AFP, Madrid

World number one Novak Djokovic returns to the Madrid Masters for the first time in three years, aiming to forget his blip at the Monte Carlo Masters with a strong challenge expected from a resurgent Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic was stunned in his opening match in Monte Carlo by the unheralded Czech Jiri Vesely, to lose for the first time in 2016 other than when he was forced to retire with an eye infection against Feliciano

Lopez in Dubai back in February.

The Serb’s absence cleared the way for Nadal to land his first Masters title in nearly two years and the Spaniard extended his perfect start to the European clay-court season by claiming a ninth Barcelona Open last week to equal Guillermo Vilas’s record of 49 clay-court titles.

Despite Djokovic’s dominance over the past year, Murray believes the 11-time Grand Slam champion can be stopped in the tournament that starts on Sunday.

“Everyone and anyone can be beaten, but at the moment Novak’s consistency is making him just that little bit harder to beat,” said Murray.

“He has incredibly consistent ground strokes, so he likes to draw the points out. I think more and more guys are trying to make the points against him shorter, they’ll move into the net a bit earlier and put him under pressure.

“However he has the ability to make shots from everywhere so it doesn’t always work.

“It’s good to have multiple game plans against him, if one isn’t working you can switch to something different, it’s important to keep him guessing and make him as uncomfortable as possible.”

Djokovic, Nadal and Murray will be joined by Roger Federer in the Spanish capital.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion had initially planned to skip Madrid to reserve his energy for the three remaining Grand Slams and Rio Olympics later in the year.l

Safarova beats Stosur to win Prague Open n AFP, Prague Lucie Safarova won her first title of the year by defeating Samantha Stosur of Australia 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on clay in the Prague Open final on Saturday.

Ranked 16th in the world, Safarova defeated fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova to get into the final, while Stosur enjoyed a walkover when Russia’s Svetlana Kuznestova withdrew due to a thigh injury.

Safarova, who lost to Serena Williams in the French Open final last year, struggled on serve in the opening set and was soon 0-2 down.

The Australian then had problems of her own on serve in the second set, four double faults allowing the home player to move ahead.

The deciding set was a cliff-hanger with 29-year-old Safarova breaking to love to lead 4-3 before serving twice for the win.l

Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova returns a ball to Samantha Stosur from Australia during their final at the WTA tennis tournament in Prague yesterday AP

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Bijlani not happy with ‘Azhar’

Seasons to come Humans Starting off with great news for show lovers, Humans season 2 is going to be airing soon so don’t miss the premiere.

AMC and Channel 4 have announced there will be a second season of Humans, its most successful drama in 20 years, ahead of the show’s highly anticipated season finale on Sunday night.

Set in a parallel world, Humans has prompted widespread debate about artificial intelligence. It imagines a world in which we increasingly rely on robots, marketed as high-tech luxury house appliances. As the eight-part drama has progressed, it has wrestled with questions around artificial intelligence and its possible threat to mankind, as well as exploring what it means to be human.

- Premieres in 43 days.

n Farhan Shahriar A couple of days back, stories surfaced that Sangeeta might sue the makers if she finds herself being portrayed negatively in the film Azhar. The source also went on to say that Sangeeta will definitely not be watching her love affair with Azharuddin on the big screen.

Directed by Tony D’Souza, the movie is based on the life of former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin.

Moreover, there were reports that Bijlani was not pleased with the making of the movie either, and that it reminded her of the time when she was married to the ex-cricketer.

The creation of the film has already left a lot of people who may or may not have been involved in Azharuddin’s life, in a tizzy. l Source: Bollywood Cat

Case filed against SRK

n Farhan Shahriar Once again, the Bollywood king is in legal trouble with his upcoming film Raees. Shah Rukh Khan’s last two releases may have let a few hearts down, but the actor and producer hasn’t been fazed as he

moved on to his new project.

However, a case was filed against him and the makers of Raees in a local court in Ahmedabad. The defamation suit was filed by Mushtaq Sheikh, the son of erstwhile underworld don Abdul Latif.

In the 101 crore rupee case, Sheikh seeks to bar the airing of the film’s promos, trailers, and news publications on the ground that it projects his father, who had a “high reputation” in society, in a negative manner.

Sheikh was promised that his father, Abdul Latif, would be projected in a positive manner. He claims that the film could bring a bad name to his family since the writers, directors, actors and producers of the film did not keep their promise.

Apparently, the local court issued notices to those involved in the film including Shah Rukh Khan, his wife Gauri Khan, actor Farhan Akhtar, director Rahul Dholakia and producer Ritesh Sidhwani, along with three filmmaking companies. l Source: India Today

UnReal When UnREAL debuted on Lifetime the summer of 2015, show-runner Sarah Gertrude Shapiro had no idea that the show’s provocative premise about producers behind the scenes of a Bachelor-like franchise would win audiences in droves, nor did she expect that viewers would come to appreciate the series’ focus on two central female figures, Quinn (Constance Zimmer) and Rachel (Shiri Appleby).

But the show became a breakout hit, and by the end of the year, EW picked the drama as one of 2015’s best new series and praised it for its take on feminism.

Naturally, Shapiro and the writers aren’t taking the show’s sophomore season lightly. When the series returns, it’ll tackle issues like race and feature new cast members. Still, Shapiro emphasises, UnREAL will always remain about Quinn and Rachel, even as the reality-show-within-a-show switches things up. “In the writers’ room, we literally just break the Quinn and Rachel [story] line, and then we figure out stuff that works with them,” she told EW. Below, Shapiro talks the plan for season 2, the success of season 1, and the one plot Lifetime asked the writers to walk back because it felt too “far.”

- Premieres in 37 days.

Mr Robot The series ended Season 1 with troubled hacker Elliot suffering a psychotic break, before receiving a knock at his apartment door from an unknown visitor. Well, season 2 will be aired soon.

The USA Network has now confirmed the airdate for Mr Robot’s season 2 premiere. The hacker drama will return to American screens on Wednesday, July 13, 2016.

Despite a brutal first season, season two of Mr Robot is “only going to get harder” for its star Rami Malek, or so Sam Esmail tells him. In the latest installment of Variety’s Contenders Conversations, Malek talks the impact of the Golden Globe nominated role, teases the coming episodes and looks back on when he met Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.

- Premieres in 25 days. l Source: DayT.se, IMDb, DEN of Geek

Pori Moni signs film with Jazz Multimedia n Showtime Desk Pori Moni is set to be the face of Rokto, which is Jazz Multimedia’s latest production.

The house that was searching for a “new face” initially, ended up signing the popular actress.

Malek Afsari will direct the thriller film, which is a joint production of India and Bangladesh. It will be Pori Moni’s first film under the banner of Jazz Multimedia.

The actress is very hopeful about the film.

On Thursday, during the “mohorot” of the film held at a five-star hotel in the capital, Pori Moni said, “My director is my only support in Rokto.”

In the film, Pori Moni will be seen portraying the role of an

300 HBO 3:19pm King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 BC. Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro Home Alone 3 Star Movies 4:00pm Alex Pruitt, a young boy of nine living in Chicago, fend off thieves who seek a top-secret chip in his toy car to support a North Korean terrorist organisation’s next deed.

Cast: Alex D. Linz, Rya Kihlstedt, Lenny von Dohlen, Olek Krupa, David Thornton

Production of ‘Maze Runner’ indefinitely delayed

Did Prince really die of an overdose?

n SK Farhan Rahman

n Showtime Desk

E! News recently confirmed that the production of The Maze Runner: The Death Cure has been indefinitely delayed due to the injuries inflicted on actor Dylan O’Brien; the cause being an accident suffered on set on March 18.

The following statement was released by Fox, explaining their decision to stop filming.

They said, “The resumption of principal photography on Maze Runner: The Death Cure has been further delayed to allow Dylan O’Brien more time to fully recover from his injuries. We wish Dylan a speedy recovery and look forward to restarting production as soon as possible.”

Initially expected to hit theatres on February 17, 2017, it is now uncertain whether the release date will remain the same due to the recent delays.

Shortly after the accident, a report

by WorkSafeBC claimed that a “worker” fell off his motorcycle during filming, and suffered a “concussion, a

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WHAT TO WATCH

action figure for the first time on screen. “It is undoubtedly a challenging job, and I do not take up any challenge that I cannot overcome. I know I will be able to do it in Rokto,but viewers will have to wait till the release of the film. I can ensure this much that something good is on the process which can last through ages.”

Roshan Rikto has been cast opposite to Pori in the film.

Abdullah Zahir Babu and Kolkata’s Pele Bhattacharya have written dialogues of the film, while Savy and Akash will direct the film’s music. Shooting will begin from May 10 and take place at different locations of Bangladesh, India and Thailand. l

facial fracture, and lacerations.”

WorkSafeBC opted to not identify O’Brien in the report in order to protect his identity. The report added, “The worker struck his head on a pavement and temporarily lost consciousness.”

The author of Maze Runner, James Dashner, tried his best to keep fans calm after the news of the accident broke out. He wrote on Twitter, “I just want to let everyone know that yes, Dylan was hurt, but that he’s going to be okay. Not life threatening in any way. Production is postponed but certainly not cancelled.” He concluded, “All that matters now is that Dylan recovers. We love you, Dylan!”

O’Brien’s co-star in Maze Runner, Giancarlo Esposito, revealed to E! News early in April that he was “healing very well” and that he’s “one tough cookie.”l Source: E! News

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Prince’s tragic death has raised many questions regarding the cause of his demise.

“Investigators are looking into whether Prince died from an overdose and whether a doctor was prescribing him drugs in the weeks before he was found dead at his home in suburban Minneapolis,” a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday. The law enforcement official has also briefed on the

investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to open up to the media.

Whether Prince was addicted to painkillers is uncertain, but some are wondering whether the stigma surrounding addiction may have prevented Prince, who built a reputation as a sober superstar, from seeking help as to if he was becoming dependent.

A second law enforcement official revealed that prescription drugs were discovered at Prince’s home when the musician was found dead on April 21.

An autopsy has been performed, but results will take three to four weeks to come out. The search warrant for Prince’s Paisley Park home and studio, carried out on the day of his death, was filed on Thursday under strict restrictions on the request of investigators.

They said it would hamper their investigation if contents were public. l Source: The Telegraph, The Washington Post, The Guardian

10,000 BC WB 7:30pm A prehistoric epic that follows a young mammoth hunter’s journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his tribe.

Cast: Alex D Linz, Rya Kihlstedt, Lenny von Dohlen, Olek Krupa, David Thornton The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride Zee Studio 9:30pm Simba’s daughter is the key to a resolution of a bitter feud between Simba’s pride and the outcast pride led by the mate of Scar.

Cast: Matthew Broderick, Neve Campbell), Andy Dick, Robert Guillaume, James Earl Jones

The Dark Knight Rises WB 11:17pm Eight years after the Joker’s reign of anarchy, the Dark Knight, with the help of the enigmatic Selina, is forced from his imposed exile to save Gotham City, now on the edge of total annihilation, from the brutal guerrilla terrorist Bane.

Cast: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Anne Hathaway

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WB SKEPTICAL OF GROWTH RATE CLAIM PAGE 15

PRIME DOLESHWAR GO ATOP IN STYLE PAGE 26

CASE FILED AGAINST SRK PAGE 30

A day in the life of a rickshaw-puller n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla Karim Miah has always wanted to go back to his lush green village and work the paddy fields in Rangpur’s Peeganj. He will one day. “As soon as I can save enough and repay my debts,” Karim says over the shoulder of his tattered polo shirt drenched in sweat as he paddles hard towards his shanty in Rayerbazar.

The lithe rickshaw-puller lives on the Beribaadh near the river with his wife. The Tk3000 per month dingy six by seven has a fan and a television. A lone naked light bulb hangs from the low tin sheet ceiling. There is barely enough space for the couple to move around with the bed and a meatsafe. Karim pays an extra Tk300 for electricity. Toilet and kitchen is of course in the common area of the slum.

Karim’s lithe body and wiry muscles belie his 50 years and several grandsons. His salt and pepper cropped hair glistens with sweat.

“We generally don’t let occasional bouts of illnesses come between the day job.” Together with his wife, Karim toils day and night to pay off Tk3 lakhs of debts, most of which came during the weddings of his two daughters.

At least they are well, Karim says with satisfaction about his daughters vindicating his extravagance at their weddings. However, extravagancce is something that he cannot afford anywhere else. Beef comes once a month, fish is on the menu more often.

The man admits there is a little more support he gets from home so he manages to get by. Karim owns about 10 decimals (0.1 acre) at home where he grows paddy. “I go home

often and bring back some rice, which sees us through for a while.”

One of those trips went horribly wrong. “I could not get a seat in the bus, so I decided to travel on the roof. It was cheaper too. But then I fell and hurt my leg.” Karim had to nurse his injuries for two months.

That was when he got further into debt.

By this time Karim is at ease and opens up to an old question. “You know, on days I make Tk300 in a jiffy even before I know it. But then on days I come back with barely Tk100.” It depends a lot on the weather and traffic on a particular day. “But on average it’s around Tk 400 and Tk 500.”

Karim is better off than many others since he owns his rickshaw and hence does not have to pay the daily deposit which is between Tk70 and Tk100. But there are other daily

expenses that Karim can’t dispense with. He ends up spending over Tk100 on food in between the trips.

There is a monthly garage rent of Tk300 for the rickshaw and he ends up shelling out another Tk1,000 for the rickshaw maintenance.

Karim Miah’s earnings are supplemented by his wife who works as a domestic aid at four to five houses mostly cleaning and laundry. But his earnings seem to dwindle. “I am not as fit as I used to be.

Age is catching up. I can’t work as hard as I used to before.” He also has to spend a substantial sum on his gastric pills, says Karim.

With whatever is left for the, the elderly couple manages to have rice for all three meals. “Rice is what gives me strength and energy.

So why not?” But besides that, its just leafy vegetables most days for Karim and his wife, who cooks the

meals before she leaves for work at 7am. Sometimes he gets fish. The common fare is pangus or tilapia.

“Just half a kilo, when we have enough money.”

Karim admits he likes beef the most among meat but he can afford it only once a month or so. “Sometimes we even have beef twice a month!”

But this man is among the lucky ones to have it so easy. Most of the hundreds of thousands of rickshaw pullers of Dhaka have it far worse than Karim and hardly manage to make ends meet. Karim is only too aware of that. All he dreams of are the undulating fields of Peerganj.

“As soon as my debts are paid, and I have a little saved, I will be off to my village,” says Karim, his tired cloudy eyes staring at a distance as he blows out a mouthful of bidi smoke. l

Daytime cooking ban in India as heatwave claims 300 lives n Tribune Desk

With sizzling temperatures claiming more than 300 lives this month in India, officials have banned daytime cooking in some parts of the drought-stricken country in a bid to prevent accidental fires that have killed nearly 80 more people, The Guardian reports.

The eastern state of Bihar this week took the unprecedented step of forbidding any cooking between 9am and 6pm, after accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather swept through shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages and killed 79 people. They included 10 children and five adults killed in a fire sparked during a Hindu prayer ceremony in Bihar’s Aurangabad district last week. People were instead told to cook to night.

Hoping to prevent more fires, officials have also banned the burning of spent crops and religious fire rituals. Anyone defying the ban risks up to a year in jail.

“We call this the fire season in Bihar,” Vyas, a state disaster management official who goes by one name, said. “Strong, westerly winds stoke fires which spread easily and cause great damage.”

Much of India is reeling under a weeks-long heat wave and severe drought conditions that have decimated crops, killed livestock and left at least 330 million Indians

A man walks through a dried-up Sarkhej lake on a hot summer day in Ahmedabad, India, April 21, 2016 without enough water for their daily needs.

Rivers, lakes and dams have dried up in parts of the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and overall officials say that groundwater reservoirs are at just 22 percent capacity.

In some areas, the situation is so bad the government has sent tankers of water for emergency relief.

Monsoon rains are still weeks away, expected to start only in June.

At least 300 people have died of heat-related illness this month,

including 110 in the state of Orissa, 137 in Telangana and another 45 in Andhra Pradesh where temperatures since the start of April have been hovering around 44C. That’s about 4-5C hotter than normal for April, according to state meteorological official YK Reddy.

He predicted the situation would only get worse in May, traditionally the hottest month in India.

The southern state of Andhra Pradesh is running ads on TV and in newspapers urging people to stay indoors during the hottest

REUTERS

hours. Construction and farm laborers are advised to seek shade when the sun is directly overhead.

Huge numbers of farmers, meanwhile, have migrated to nearby cities and towns in search of manual labor, often leaving elderly and young relatives behind in parched villages.

This is the second consecutive year southern India has suffered from a deadly heat wave, after some 2,500 people died in scorching temperatures last year.

Though heat waves are common

during Indian summers, authorities have done little to ensure water security or prepare urban populations for the risks.

This year, Orissa’s capital of Bhubaneshwar and Maharashtra’s city of Nagpur joined Gujarat’s Ahmedabad in launching a heat wave program to educate people on how to stay cool, provide shelters and train medical workers on dealing with heat-related illnesses like sun stroke and dehydration. But most cities and states lack such programs.

This week, more than 150 leading Indian economists, rights activists and academics expressed their “collective anxiety about the enormous suffering of the rural poor” in an open letter to prime minister Narendra Modi.

The letter says the official response to the crisis has been “sadly listless, lacking in both urgency and compassion,” and urges Modi to restore funding for a government program guaranteeing 100 days of paid work a year for the poor and unemployed.

While the monsoon is not expected until June, weather experts hope there would be brief spells of light rain sooner.

“The effect would last a few days, before temperatures start rising again,” Indian meteorological department spokesman BP Yadav said. l

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